The Demon Returns
by Emperor Lelouch Vi Brittanna
Summary: Lelouch vi Brittania, The Demon Emperor, a man who had united the world through force. When he died no one cried. No one cared. But when it all falls apart he's needed. But isn't he dead? Rated T. R&R! spoilers for R2.
1. A Demon Awakens

**This is my first fanfic so any comments or suggestions is appreciated. I do not own code geass.**

**Thank you for feedback and plz if you are critical make it constructive. hope you enjoy the story**

**Chapter One The Demon King Awakens**

**One year after the death of the Demon Emperor**

**Nunally has released all of the areas and territories of Brittania not on the American continents. Then the world fell apart...**

_Imperial Palace, New Pendragon_

Nunally looked out across the map " Are you sure there is nothing we can do Zero?"

"I'm afraid so. The EU has fallen apart due to controversy over who will lead them. One side wants only the senior members of those who never left the EU to lead, while others want everyone to have a voice. Basically it has fallen apart between east and west, with the exception of Russia who is with the west. Turkey is the only member not to have joined the fighting yet."

"Africa has fallen into civil war due to the drought that has happened and the same controversy in the EU. They have also split between west and east and working side by side with their counterparts in the EU."

"Asia is also in a crisis with China fighting its rebels in Tibet and Manchuria who are supported by the nation of India. Japan meanwhile has former brittianian subjects who refused to leave and have rebelled forming the Area 11 Reclamation Group or ARG. "

"The Middle East is in an uproar as well with the Arab-Israel conflict starting up again. "

"And even here in Brittania we have more people clamoring for independence. "

"That is the state of the world Empress Nunally. If we interfere then people will thing of us like the old Brittania and come to hate us even more."

"Who is demanding independence from us?" asked Nunally

Zero answered "The South American territories have united under the name of Gran Columbia after the ideals of Simon Bolivar the Liberator of South America during the early 1800's before we began the conquest of South America."

"Would more self government satisfy them?" Nunally asked.

"I'm afraid not, they are intent on freedom."stated Zero

"well.. then..."

Suddenly General Hollister spoke up"Surely you do not think to let these rebels get what they want! We have already let half of our territory leave! If this is allowed to happen then we will be seen as a joke!"

"General! You are out of line! How dare you speak to her highness in such a way!" commanded Zero.

"Uhm..uh... my apologies... my lady I was just so disturbed by the thought of us losing another large portion of your empire. We have allowed many to leave but surely you see that fighting is necessary in this case? Tell you what, I will lead the 3rd army to this Gran Columbia or whatever they call it and put it down myself. Should I fail you can say I acted without your permission and give them independence if that is what you wish. How about it?"

Nunally replied hesitantly "...Very well General you may lead your forces to attempt to put down this rebellion."

The General smiled and said "Thank you your highness you will not regret it."

**Later in a private room of the palace**

"You do realize what he is trying to do don't you?" asked Zero.

Nunally answered him, "Yes I believe I do. He will attempt to suppress the rebellion then proclaim himself as Emperor of South America. With his forces already in place it will be difficult to take it back."

Zero smiled under his helmet and said, "Hmm I knew you weren't as naive as you let him believe. So do you want me to take him out?"

"No I want him to try to suppress them. If he presses them hard enough then maybe I can come to an agreement with them and get rid of him at the same time." stated Nunally

Zero took off his mask to reveal a smiling Suzaku "Your quite the devious one aren't you Nunally? Must run in the family."

Nunally smiled half-heartedly and had a sad glint in her eyes "I had a great teacher." she said.

_Small village on Hokkaido, Japan_

The door bell rings. A young lady who looks about 16 with green hair opens the door."Hi, two extra large supreme pizzas and one 8oz coke."

The lady at the door answered "Hi thanks here you go." She handed over a check.

"Thanks and have a nice day"

A boy's voice came from the dining room, "Pizza again C.C.? Don't you ever get tired of that?"

C.C. smiled at him as she entered the room and said, "Now Lulu you should know the answer to that."

Lelouch smiled back but said, "You know you cant keep doing this witch... what have i told you... I can't pay for pizza everyday on a teachers salary even with me helping to plow the fields in the spring and harvest it in fall, I'm not made out of money anymore..."

"Oh get over it you make plenty of money. Being the only teacher here and not a school for miles these people pay you more then any teacher in Japan," said a laughing CC.

"That maybe the case but what if something happens and we need money? You spend it as soon as I get it...and it doesn't help that most what they pay me is crops or livestock.," Lelouch looked at the pizza box, "Well guess we had better enjoy the pizza while its still warm eh witch? Otherwise my money will just go to waste."

Together they walked over to the table and set the pizza box down on the table. As they moved to sit down they heard screams from outside and gun shots being fired. "What in the world is that?!" shouted Lelouch. He ran to the door and looked down the street, searching for the reason for the noise. He stopped when he saw five men running up the street firing automatic weapons at anyone who was in sight. Lelouch turned around opened his drawer and pulled out his Glock 17. He opened the door and opened fire at the men, killing the first with a head shot and a second with two rounds to the chest. By then however, the rest know where he is and open fire at his house. As they switch magazines, Lelouch runs out the door, shoots the closest man, makes eye contact with the second and says, "Kill your compatriot!" The man immediately responds with "Yes sir!" and turns and opens fire at his partner killing him with a quick burst from his AK-47. Lelouch then kills him with a quick round to the head and sees CC down the street with a Sigma9F 9mm in one hand and checking on one of the neighbors.

As he reaches her they together look at the carnage that lay upon this small town that for a year they had called home. Lelouch, at seeing all the death around him yelled," What is this! I gave my life so that stuff like this would not happen! Know if finds me once again!" CC looked at him with sympathy and was about to say something when an old Sutherland Nightmare frame showed up, "So you are the ones killing my men. Oh well I guess you will have to join them!" As the Sutherland opens fire on them Lelouch and CC feel the bullets rip through them and the intense pain that comes after. Finally after whats seems like an eternity, blackness envelops Lelouchs vision.

2hours later

"What, What happened? "Lelouch sits up with CC is lying next to him slowly healing as well. Looking around, he sees the village has been completely destroyed and burned to the ground. He stands up and hears CC groan as she begins to wake. Slowly rising she takes his hand and he helps her to her feet. Together they survey the damage done. "Who would do something like this?" asked CC, "Even the children were killed." Lelouch looked at her then back at the carnage, and said, " I don't know.... but I plan to find out. The time has come for me to get back in the world." 'What could of happened to change the peace that I had left it in?' he wondered. He wasn't completely sure he wanted to find out.

**So what did you think? As i said above comments and suggestions are appreciated.**

**Also I know that some people will not understand how he has a code and geass. **

**Well my idea was that he got his code from his dad and he still has a contract with CC so he has both.**


	2. A Plan is formed

**Hello! I'm back! ok it hasn't been that long but I have finished ch2 so it is going up. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. I hope I have improved my writing some.**

**I've responded to everyone who has posted so far and I will continue to do so, so keep reviewing!**

**_Sypth_: Thank you for helping me with my grammer mistakes I'll try to watch out and not do so many.  
**

_**Armorblade**__**: As I told you in the response he gets away from it all. He took a break from having the world on his shoulders. That why he surprised. I've also fixed the speech so that it not like forum talk (thanks for pointing that out)**_

_**Velshard: Thanks I'll try to slow down. **_

_**ILoveCockatiels: Thanks glad you like it.**_

**And people please let me know what you think of the content of the story when you review not just my many writing mistakes. I would like to know what you think about the story. Thanks and enjoy.**

Ch2

1 weeks later

_Tokyo Central Train Station_

"It doesnt seem to have changed much..." said Lelouch looking out of the train station into the city where he had lived for seven years.

"Dont judge the world on one city." said CC coming up to join him

"Well first things first I need to find out what is going on in the world." Lelouch begins heading down the stairs of the station.

" And how do you plan to learn that?"

"Simple I'll find a computer and since I don't want to be disturbed the best place for one is at a library."

"You think you wont be disturbed at the library? You?... Come now someone is sure to recongize you."

"Perhaps but I think mostly everyone will have forgotten about me if my fears are correct."Lelouch said darkly.

"Oh?" said CC curious,"And what do your fears tell you?"

A dark tint came into his eyes"That I died for nothing..."

_Imperial Palace, New Pendragon_

"It seems you were right Empress Nunally. General Hollister's initial success has been halted and in some areas completly reversed."

"Thank you Zero. Can you give me an update on what happened?"

"Of course your highness. General Hollister initially looked like he would put the rebellion down quickly with a successful invasion from the north capturing Bogota and Caracas, and using his aerial ships he took over the province of Paraguay making his base of operations at Asuncion. But after that things went downhill. His navy was defeated by the rebels in the battles of Callao and Guayaquil in the pacific and at Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro in the Atlantic. His navy has currently pulled back to Gerorgetown ane Maipelo Island. Meanwhile His troops have suffered from the heat and mosquitoes and disease has taken its toll on them. This maybe a good time to begin speaking to the rebels."

"Agreed" said Nunally, "I'll send someone I can trust to begin talks with them."

"Very well your highness."

One hour later

_Tokyo Public Library_

"Hmm and even the EU has fallen apart now. And just three days ago Denmark betrayed the west and is marching on Berlin to cut the western forces in half. Ok well, I believe I have caught up with what is happening in the world."

"Oh?" said CC," So what's your next move?"

"Now I have to determine the best way of fixing it... go rent us a room at a hotel will you? I need to think and it is hard when your looking over me all the time."

"Fine but I'm ordering pizza. I haven't had it since the attack."

Smiling Lelouch said "And you survived didn't you witch? Oh well I guess that will teach me to give you the money. Just do me a favor and get the room first so I know we at least have that set, I don't know how much money I'll have left with renting a room in the middle of Tokyo."

CC walks away

Lelouch thinking: If I'm going to save the world I will need more than just CC. If only I still had the blacknights...hmm there's an idea. Could it work? YES! YES it could! I could make it happen and if that happens then it'll be a beginning from which I can build up just as I did before!

_Orange farm somewhere in Brittaina_

(ring) (ring)

(male voice) "I'll get it! Hello who is this?"

(Familiar voice) "Hello Jeremiah. It's been a while."

"My.. my lord! It is a pleasure to talk to you again."

"It is nice to talk to you as well. I am planning on bringing the world back from the brink of disaster and I wanted to know if I could count on you."

"Of course my lord! Where do you need me?"

"Tokyo as fast as you can get here... I understand that a lot can happen in a year and so if you are not able to tell me know and I will just readvise my strategy. Jeremiah you have served me well and I can not ask of you more than what you have given. Speak now and I will let you get back to your live."

(laughing)"Yes my lord a lot does happen in a year but somethings do not change such as my loyalty to you. I will arrive in Tokyo as soon as possible."

"...Thank you Jeremiah I knew I could count on you."

Click. (dial tone)

**So what you think? As always feedback and suggestions appreciated.**

**Oh and what might this master plan be? Good question! I have it mostly planned out but any suggestions will be considered.**

**As always review and send feedback.**


	3. Remembrance

**Sorry it took so long hope you enjoy!**

CH three: Jeremiah Remembers

One day later

_Somewhere over the Pacific_

Jeremiah thinking, "I knew he would have need of me again. I just knew it! There was no way he would be able to take doing nothing while the world changes around him." A distant look appears in Jeremiah's eyes as he remembers that day a year ago where the emperors plan was completed.

It was a clear day perfect weather for what my lord wanted broadcasting. The Emperor was sitting on his throne looking out over the people. He had told me his plan and though I hated to let him die I saw the pain in his eyes and knew he was ready for it to be over. Then I saw Kurugi in the Zero outfit that master Lelouch had given him. The nightmare pilots were of course geased to fire at him but not to hit him. Then he had made it past and it was my turn to make it look good. I jumped down and my blades came out and I rushed at Kurugi. And just as we planned he jumped when I swung landing on me then jumping off to kill my lord. I couldn't help but smile because this is what my lord had wanted. He had made the world hate him and now the man they hated would die and everyone would be thankful to Zero for eliminating him. In this way, he thought he could end the worlds problems and let Nunally and all the other people live in peace. And as planned the rebels lead by former Princess Corniliea came storming out to free the prisioners. I ordered a retreat, grabbed my lords body and jumped on one of the knightmares. When we got to base I dismissed the pilots and went to look at my emperor. Amazingly the wound didn't look so bad and the blood had already stopped flowing. This surprised me but I didn't think anything about it until I saw it begin to heal right in front of me. At first I thought this was part of his plan, that he would live and disappear, but then he woke up... He sat up looked around and saw me and said " Oh hello Jeremiah, I'm sorry my plan got you killed as well, so is this heaven or hell? looks the same to me..

Then I told him that I wasn't dead and that I didn't think he was either. Then he got mad.

"Jeremiah! I told you not to save me! I was ready to die! Was ready to end all this suffering!" He shouted.

I replied "I'm sorry my lord but I didn't do anything... I got your body back to base and you just started healing."

"What!? that's, that's not possible..."he said.

"Oh? Why not?" said a female voice behind me who I knew as the lady CC. "Because,"said my lord,"That would mean I have a code and you are still alive so thats impossible...isn't it? Or is it possible that I took my fathers?" "Now your thinking" said CC

"But that that means I'm immortal!?..."

"Yes Lelouch you are immortal now until you give the code to someone else. You have done exactly as you promised, you have become a warlock as I am a witch." said CC.

We decided then to go our seperate ways. I did not know where they were headed so that i could not follow them for as he said "He would disappear from history and the world would be at peace." CC was going with him so i made her swear to protect him. She laughed at that but agreed. And now I have finally settled down... have a home.. a wife... a good job...and soon a child... and I've left all that for a prince who had said he would never need me again.. who had said he would never meddle in the world again.

Why? Why did I leave all that for him? Out of loyalty that he had said I had proven time and time again? Did I feel honor bound to help? I don't know I just feel like I have to... Like the fate of the world could be decided by the coming months...

_Imperial Palace, New Pendragon_

"Your mission is to talk to the rebels and get them to agree to lay down their weapons and renounce their claims of independence Ambassador Clinton. Can you do it?" asked Empress Nunally. She had carefully selected him from many other diplomats, chosen for his experience and loyalty. Zero looked on with approval. "Of course my lady." said Ambassador Clinton. A man of 42 with brown hair and blue eyes Clinton had served as an ambassador for three generations of Brittanian emperors. His loyalty was proven when his home territory of Russia rebelled. He refused the position of Prime Minister to stay loyal to the empire and had even went through a series of tests and trials to prove his loyalty. Now he was the best bet to bring South America back into the Empire. "Well then I had better get to work so by your leave your highness?" bows to Nunally who nods, " My lord." bows to Zero and walks out the room.

"You made the right choice picking him your highness. I believe he has the best bet of being successful and the least chance of running to the generals and politicians." said Zero. "My thoughts exactly Zero, now will you help me to Dr. Steven's office? It is time for my daily leg strengthening exercises." "Of course,"said Zero moving to help her into her wheel chair. They moved out the door together Zero pushing the wheelchair.

_Tokyo, Japan_

_"I'm telling you CC we are running low on cash... you can't keep buying pizza every night." said Lelouch._

_"Well then we had better find a way to get money hadn't we." said CC_

_"...It's not that easy."_

_"Oh? why not?"_

_"Because! I'm busy trying to save the world!" said a frustrated Lelouch._

_"Go gamble." said CC in her usual monotone voice._

_"...You want me to risk the little money we have?"_

_"It doesn't matter either way. We can't die so food is only a commodity. And besides I'm sure you can win, you have so many times before."_

_"...Even if I wanted to I can't just convince someone to bet on a game of chess and casinos would want some ID proving that I'm above 18. Seeing as I don't have any ID that could be a problem..._

_"You could geass them into letting you in."_

_"...Yes actually that could work as long as i make sure no one is looking..."_

_Smiling CC said, "See? It just that simple. So I guess I can order pizza?"_

_"If you agree to stay here then yes."_

_"Give up freedom for pizza, huh? Oh well, in the pursuit of pizza sacrifices must be made. Agreed."_

_"Very well I'll see you tonight I'm going to begin the next stage of my plan."_

_As Lelouch walked out side he felt relieved that he might actually have found away to get some money without having to forge a fake id. The only problem with this plan was that CC had come up with it. Why hadn't he? He was after all the genius. He decided he must have been to busy working on the next stage of his plan._

_Jeremiah will arrive in another day or two and once he is here things will run smoothly, but before he gets here I need to try to get another knight in my corner. thought Lelouch_

_Lelouch walked down the road to Ashford Acadamy. _

**Ok this isn't acually the writer he's not able to get on the comp right now so sorry! But I am the other half of this account (the one who made it and suggested he put it on here) and from what I can tell it might be awhile 'till he's ready to put up the next chapter. Sorry!**


	4. A Gamble

**Hi guys I'm back! sorry it took so long though my friend did warn you. It's just been one thing after the other first with my internet going out then with school projects needing to get done and work. Like I said been one thing after another. Hopefully it will be better now but who knows. Anyway I had hoped to never make you guys wait so long so I'm sorry and hopefully will be able to get everything more smoothly once my last projects are done due monday/wednesday and exams comin up in a few weeks. Well anyway enough of my problems you guys don't want to here about that you just want me to get written right? ;) Anyway thanks for the comments.**

**eMi to mAo 374, PrInCeSS StArK101, lorddarkblue - Thanks glad you enjoyed**

**starfruit-22 - Thanks glad you liked it. Also it is a possibility for them to be in since I haven't figured out everything. Thanks for being patient.**

**COLINZBERTRAM- of course he does and will get them shortly, but he has nothing and so must work from the ground up. Also Jeremiah's wife isn't important as of yet to the story. Should I go into detail about it though then I will probably say Anya. But could be anyone unless that comes up in the story**

**blackdeathmessenger- Yeah that why I started writing this cause couldn't find anyone doing this. Personally I don't consider myself that great of a writer but originally this was just a project I did when I was bored (which is why the 1st ch was so different; I hadn't edited) and since I couldn't find anything like this I wrote it up.**

**rangednogood- thanks. Story may be short now but wait till I get rollin ;)**

**Velshard- Well now that interesting. I watched all 50 episodes (r1 r2) and never heard anything about that. Have an episode you can give me? Would of helped if I had know that, just figured Russia fell to Napolean like Great Britian.**

**A Midsummer Night's Dream- Me to and if I get the time to right you can bet I will**

**deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover- oh? how are you disappointed?**

**Well there we go I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing and as always questions comments concerns are welcome along with *Constructive* criticism. Hope you enjoy and hopefully it wont be as long next time.**

* * *

Even as he walked towards the casino he could feel his heart racing. He could not wait to test his mind again as he once did on a daily basis. It was a pity he could not seek out someone on his level to play against but he did not have that kind of time. Lelouch had done everything he could to get ready for tomorrow when he would bring back one of the most important pieces to his plan. He needed an ace and an ace he would get. But until then he needed to get ready and what better way to get his mind back into shape than to beat the house at its own game. Plus it would relieve the strain on his pocketbook which had been notably light ever since his self imposed exile. He was really happy that he looked very little like he had before with his hair shoulder length and a short beard he resembled more of a hippy than the former emperor he was. Though it made for a good disguise he swore if he won the first thing he'd do is get a hair cut.

"Out of the way you hippy!" said a voice behind him shaking him back to reality. Lelouch turned and to his surprise and horror he saw Tamaki standing behind him! And if that wasn't bad enough it seemed many of the highest ranking officials from the former Black Nights were there including Tohdoh, Chiba, and Ohgi!

'How did they find me!', he thought quickly stepping out of the way to let them pass. Tamaki rushed by without a second glance. Chiba stopped however and said,

" Sorry about that he can be really rude."

" No problem" said Lelouch not believing his bad luck. He had never expected to find any of them here. Amazingly she walked on leaving him dumbfounded Lelouch could not believe his luck she had not recognized him at all. Slowly he smiled 'This could be fun' he thought. Then Ohgi came up.

"Hi sorry about that. Hope you will forgive him he has always been a bit hot-headed."

"No problem." said Lelouch a bit more confident after seeing Chiba walk by. Suddenly though Ohgi's face became confused. "I feel like I know you from some where... have we met before? Perhaps you were a member of the Black Knights?"

"Sorry no I don't know you" stated Lelouch.

"Hmm you sure? Oh well just a coincidence I guess." he moved on as well.

Lelouch's heart stopped pounding as bad and began beating normally again as Ohgi left.

'That was close,' he thought, 'Ohgi almost recognized me. I'll just have to be more careful.' Lelouch then walked into the casino. At the entrance the security guards didn't give him a second glance, 'My beard makes me look completely different. They don't even think I'm below eighteen. Looks like I worried over nothing.'

Lelouch sat down at a slot machine and quickly scanned the room and saw that Ohgi and the others were sitting over at the black jack table, 'Hmm this has possibilities... oh well first things first have to get me some cash to work with.' He put his first coin in and let it roll. Slowly he began calculating the speed of the slots watching, learning, picturing it in his mind. Slowly he pulled the lever. Then again. And again. He smiled he had calculated it perfectly, one seven, one cherry, and one BAR. Just what he had been aiming for. Now that he had the sequence down he had to make sure he didn't get caught. He pulled it again, this time landing on two sevens and a lemon. "Dang it!" lelouch said but inside he was laughing at how simple it was. "Now time to get lucky." Smiling he pulled the lever, again, and again. Three cherries appeared on his screen. "Yes!" he exclaimed as coins began pouring out of the machine. Smiling he said to the woman next to him, " Must be my lucky day!"

Lelouch continued with his charade for twenty minutes. Then he hit the Jackpot. "Awesome! Yeah I told you it was my lucky day!"

"We have a winner! Machine seventeen congratulations!" As coins poured out the people around him congratulated him. Lelouch smiled and thanked all of them while inside he was planning what to do next. " I have all the money I need now, with a 100,000 payout for jackpot I could leave...." Lelouch smiled that crooked smile of his and thought 'But what's the fun in that? I haven't seen my former comrades in a year, I wonder how they've been.'

Lelouch walked over to the poker table where Ohgi and the others were sitting. "Mind if I join you?" he asked

They looked up in surprise. Then Ohgi said " Of course not, take a seat."

Moving to take a seat he said " I didn't recognize you earlier but aren't you Kaname Ohgi? The former Deputy Commander of the Black Nights and current Prime Minister of Japan?

Ohgi smiles and nods affirmative, "Yep that's me."

"So that would make you Kyoshiro Tohdoh the miracle worker? Well it is a great honor to meet you."Taking his seat Lelouch looks at Tamaki, "But I don't know you ," Lelouch said laughing at what he knew would come from that.

"WHAT!"Tamaki jumps from his chair," You've never heard of me?! I'm Shinichirō Tamaki, one of the most important members of the former Black Nights!"

Tamaki is pulled forcefully down back into his chair by Tohdoh, "Shut up Tamaki! We don't want everyone in the whole world knowing we are here! And look how many people are starring." Looks at Ohgi, "Looks like you lost the bet Ohgi, I told you he'd make a fool of himself." Ohgi just smiled.

Lelouch smiled and looked at the dealer, " Deal me in," he said.

Tohdoh looked at Lelouch then back at his cards. He checked, so did Ohgi, Chiba, and Tamaki. Lelouch looked at his cards, An Ace and 10 of spades. "Not bad at all," he thought. He checked also.

The dealer dealt the community, a 5 of hearts, King of spades, and 9 of clubs. Tohdoh looked at his cards and bet $10. Chiba and Tamaki called while Ohgi folded. Lelouch looked over his cards again, '... hmm to call or fold...' he thought,"Call," and threw out a 10 dollar chip. "So," he said as the flop came out, " How's everything Master Tohdoh? What are you doing now that the Black Nights have been disbanded?" The flop was a 10 of hearts.

Tohdoh looked up at him again then at his cards, then threw his cards to the dealer. "Fold," he said and looked at Lelouch "I don't see how that is any of your business,"

Chiba laughed," Come now Tohdoh, don't be rude. It was an innocent question,"

Tohdoh smiled at her," Well since she thinks it's ok," he looked back at Lelouch,"I am Secretary of Defense under Prime Minister Ohgi here.

Tamaki had just finished his 5th drink of the the night and laughed " Oh please Tohdoh don't leave our friend here in the dark. Tell him what you really do. Tell him about you being in charge of the Elite Strike force."

Tohdoh shot Tamaki a dark look and Ohgi said," Shut up Tamaki!"

Lelouch smiled inside, 'So in charge of the Elite Strike force huh?'he thought. "Well seems like this is a sore topic so I'll just be leaving."

"Cough, um exuse me sir but are you going to be betting?" Lelouch looked at the dealer and threw his cards down "Fold" he said and walked away

He left the casino without a look back and began walking down the street heading to the hotel.

* * *

_**Asuncion, Paraguay**_

"General Hollister. Sir, someone is here to see you. He says he must speak to you. As he walked down the street he laughed.

"Oh? and who is he to say I wish to speak to him? Why should I speak to this man?" said Hollister.

"Oh you want to speak to me general," stated the man in a french accent as he walked in. The man in question was a french man with blond hair and brown eyes standing 5'10. He came in with a smirk on his face.

"How dare you come into the General's palace uninvited! I will have you flogged for this!" yelled the captain.

"Oh? I don't think you will. You see the general needs me. And should I decide to leave he won't last much longer. Besides, Project Storm was a failure." said the stranger in a sinister voice.

"Captain, leave the room." stated the General in a confused tone.

"S-Sir? are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, now go before I decide to have you forcefully removed!" The captain left quickly closing the door behind him.

"Now, who are you? How do you know of Project Storm? Those code words were only known amongst the royals and high generals of the former Britannia. Before this weak administration... Who are you!"

"Hahaah, don't you remember me?"

Suddenly it was as if a cloud had been removed from the generals eyes, "L-Lord Al-Alfred!? Is.. Is it really you?"

"Ha! so you do remember me." said a smiling man with black hair and blue eyes.

"Y-yes sir but I thought you had been slain by Emperor Lelouch when he eliminated the nobility and besieged your fortress. I could not believe it when I had heard that New York had fallen. I had always thought that your fortress was impregnable. I assumed you died.."

"No General Hollister, I live and I am stronger than ever. Soon I will be in a position to complete our lord's dream of a world conquered by Britannia. But the current administration is weak and not worthy of this power. Even now the Empress talks to these rebels trying to find a peaceful solution, and that means the end of your ambition." The general begins sweating after realizing that this man knew his plan.

"I... I have no clue what you are talking about. I live only to serve the empire..."

"Pssh please Hollister you always were an ambitious one. It's as plain as day what you are doing. The Empress knows as well." smiling Alfred watched as the General became increasingly agitated and worried. "There is hope though General. As I said before I will soon be in a position to finish are master's ambition, and to repeat that brat's success. He may have been misguided but at least he was a strong leader unlike his sister... oh well makes it easier for us a Hollister?" The General looks up with surprise on his face. "Yes General I said we. I would like you to join me in this. If you will swear allegiance to me and to my bid for the crown then I will promise that your rewards will be great."

Hollister couldn't believe his ears, he jumped at the chance, he kneeled and said, " My Lord I so swear. I will do everything possible to put you on the throne."

Smiling Alfred looked down at his new vassal. " Very well continue as normal here. You will soon hear of momentous events. Try to secure your position here and eliminate the separatists. There will be no place for people like them in my new world."

"Of course my lord." With that Lord Alfred left.

Hollister got off his knees and began thinking about all that had happened. 'Things will soon be getting interesting,' he thought.

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**There you go everyone hoped you enjoyed. Lelouch's gambling was going to be longer but I just got tired of all the writing and computer problems (I once lost everything and am just glad I had sent it to my friend, the one on this account with me) so I'm sorry about that. I also figured I had made you guys wait long enough so Hopefully things will go better for the next one. Well until then good bye hope you all keep waiting and please be patient. **


	5. A Revelation

**Well** **I'm back everyone. Hope it wasn't to long this time. Anyway hope everyone enjoys and would love to here what you think. As always questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome along with constructive criticism. Now to answer my reviewers.**

**_starfruit-22_ - yeah last ch was kinda long and didn't really get anything done BUT a major character was revealed and that was the main part of the ch. also srry but The majority will probably get longer once Lelouch enters the world stage. Hope you enjoy this one and continue to enjoy the story.**

**_A midsummer night's dream - _Thanks hope it stays interesting for you**

**_Trife - _Thanks and as you can see I have updated :)**

**eMi to mAo 374 - Well your patiance has been rewarded :) **

**Lilyflower1987 - Thats explained in the 1st paragraph. says somethin like he has prepared everything for tomorrow. Its tellin you he has already been there and has done what he could to get ready for tomorrow (this ch) you know like gather info and that kinda of stuff. srry I didn't make that clear. Anyway hope you enjoy the ch and continue to review**

**Edu - glad you like it. Também entendo Bolivar nunca alcançou Brasil, mas isto é uma história diferente (Napoleão realmente não tomou as Ilhas britânicas qualquer um) tão pensei que eu faria sonho do Bolivar uma realidade para um tempo curto. Espere que você gosta de ele e continua a revisar**

**blackdeathmessenger - Thanks but you'll have to bare with me with this ch. Once Lelouch gets a force and the battles start it will get longer**

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Lelouch walked down the road to Ashford Acadamy. It was a bright sunny day, not a cloud in the sky perfect weather for walking. 'I just hope this goes as planned, otherwise I may be in some serious trouble. I'll have to do something to her that I'd prefer not to do.' Lelouch thought. Once there he went to the courtyard. It was the graduation ceremony today. A lot of students were helping get ready for tonight's ceremony (mainly to get out of class). And there running it all was Kallen Kouzki. She was the new President of the Student Council. Lelouch pulled out a piece of paper walked up to a student who was coming to the courtyard and asked, "Hey will you give this to the President for me?"

"Ummm sure why not." said the student.

"Thanks." Lelouch said then started walking away. Once he turned the corner though he began to run. He silently thanked the farm work he had done over the year for making him fitter than before even if he still wasn't strong at least he was not as weak. He actually made it to the student council room without being out of breath. He went through the door and ran up the stairs. Then he waited and planned for the worst.

Meanwhile Kallen was directing the students "And make sure that beam is secure Rivals, I don't want the stage falling AGAIN."

"Yes madam president"said Rivals. Muttering "Man I miss Milly at least she could take a joke."

"What was that Rivals?!" said Kallen in a sinister voice.

"...uh Nothing ....nothing at all I'm just working." said Rivals

"Rivals if you do not get your act togeth-"

"President!" shouted a student coming from the courtyard.

Kallen turns. Jarrod a freshmen who was helping out was walking over.

"Yes Jarrod?" asked Kallen

"Someone wanted me to give this to you."he holds out a note.

"Thank you Jarrod." she takes the note from him. She opens the note and read it. **Q1-SC-0. **She began to shake as she saw what was written on the note.

"Who gave this to you Jarrod!?" she said

"um...." He was a little worried by the tone of Kallen's voice. "Just some boy over there." He points in direction of the student council room.

Kallen shouted "Daniel your in charge until I get back."

Rivals jumped up ,"What! I have senority here. I should be in charge! Heck I should be president but I was ok when they elected you. Now you are going to give it to the him? I'm the Vice-President!"

Kallen looked at Rivals as if he was joking, "He is a hard worker and will make sure it gets done. You meanwhile will probably pull some stunt or another to get a laugh out of the ceremony. Now be good and get back to work." Rivalz looked hurt but she was to mad to care. She began walking away toward the student council room. Outwardly she appeared calm the only hint of her anger coming in the constant ripping and crumbling of the note. 'I'll kill whoever it is that pulled this prank.' She thought. Once she turned the corner she sprinted down the hallway toward the Student Council room.

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**Well hope you all liked it. This ch could have been longer but I felt like this is were it needed to end. Srry about the cliff hanger ending but it just felt right (plz don't hate me for it) Anyway I'm working on the next ch. Hopefully it won't be very long until it comes out but can't make any promises. Anyway until next time enjoy and keeping reviewing.**


	6. Confrontation

**Hi guys and gals, I'm back! I've finished this ch and hope you all enjoy. As always enjoy, review, and remember I have no ownership of Code Geass, all I have is my story. Now time to give a shout out to my reviewers.**

**Lilyflower1987 - :) well here it is. **

**Edu - Agradece. Eu não penso assim. Só teve algumas conversas sobre história na exposição. Como ditado como brittainia põe no chão a Rebelião de Washington (a Revolução americana) e algumas coisas como que quando eles em classe. Thanks for reviewing and let me know if my translator makes no sense.**

**Lord Lelouch,starfruit-22,Dark Fenrir - I can't promise anything yet guys about a pairing (though I personally favor LelouchXKallen, I also realize what probably went on during the year missing in this story aka LelouchXCC) I have a few ideas but nothin major yet. If I do decide to have a pairing it will probably be a harem idea to satisfy everyone. (though some of you are going to hate me if I go with my original plan, hehehe ;) ) **

**Akira Stridder - thanks glad you liked it**

**Trife - You hit it on the nose Trife. It is the code he used before.**

**2stupid - don't worry same thing happened here, but I needed a reason why no one recognized him**

**eMi to mAo 37 - well read and find out XD**

**A Midsummer Night's Dream - NOOOOO more grammer! XD jk Yeah Kallen is scary when she made o.o wouldn't want to be in Lelouch's shoes.**

**risingsundynasty, graytail, DragFire, swordbunny4486 - Thanks and here it is hope you all enjoy**

**raven- thanks  
**

**Anyway hope you all enjoy and will continue to read and review. **

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**Rebel Camp, Somewhere in the forest of Columbia**

He had been brought here blindfolded and bound yet Ambassador Clinton thought he was closer than ever to succeeding in his mission. He had came in secretly in a stealth career that dropped him over the Amazon River Basin. His Knightmare, a Red Cross marked Humanitarian support unit, had been taken almost immediatly by a rebel hunter cell. They had quickly surrounded him and had forced him to surrender. When they heard who he was and that he was here to talk they laughed in his face saying " Hahaha you think that the commander will surrender to you oppressors? No like his forefather before him, the great Liberator of Columbia Simon Bolivar, He will destroy you and stop your colonial rule." He was surprised at what they said because the Bolivar's had been completely destroyed by the Brittanian forces at the Final Battle of Bogota, and the Massacre of Cali. The entire Bolivar family was wiped out in the massacre while trying to run to the last stronghold of the Columbian forces at Pasto. Even women and children weren't spared.

He didn't bring this up, as the last thing he needed were angry captors. They agreed to take him to their commander but that they would be keeping his Knightmare. So after days of traveling he was here and hopefully about to meet the commander of all this. They unbound his hands and took off his blindfold. He saw he was in a rag tag camp which was filled with about 150 people. He saw behind him three 6-generation Knightmares behind him standing guard, with about 5 more of duty. Then he saw three 7-generation Knightmares and even an 8th-generation. He could not believe how well provisioned this rebel force was to have these. Then they came to the tent with the 8th-generation behind it.

One of his captors did a salute then said, "This prisoner would like to speak to the captain." One of the sentries went inside the tent. A minute later a man of about thirty with black hair and green eyes came out of the tent. The officer who had spoken before said, " Sir! This man claims to be an ambassador from the Empire and wishes to speak with the Commander. I knew you would want to see him first."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Tell your men to rest, I'll have another mission for you soon." The Captain looked at Ambassador Clinton and said, " I am Captain Ivan Uribe, Commander of the Columbian Liberation Front of the Liberation Army, what can I do for you?

"Thank you, Captain Uribe. I would like to speak to your Commander."

Uribe smiled, "I bet. However we do not let just anyone go and see the Grand General. You wish to speak to him? Well then you will have to convince me to let you," seeing that Clinton was about to protest he raised his hand and said, "Besides I do not have the man power to spare an escort and I am not letting a Brittanian loose in my zone. I will send a messenger to the General and he will to decide 'IF' and when he wishes to speak to you. So since we have time you might as well talk to me," he said with a smile.

'Great' thought Clinton, 'I thought I was close to finishing this mission up. Oh well, might as well make the best of it.' "So Captain tell me, why have you joined this call for independence?"

The Captain laughed and said, " I can tell we will have an argument about this topic for a long time. Well It all started....."

**_ Student council room, Ashford Academy_**

Kallen ran through the door and looked around. Then she heard something coming from the second floor.

(clap clap clap) "I see you are as punctuale as ever. I've only been here for five minutes." an all to familiar voice said.

Kallen looked at the top of the stairs. Standing a little ways to the right was a teenager around 17. He wasn't wearing a school uniform so obviously he wasn't a student. Her blood began to run hot as she saw that he did look somewhat like Lelouch, but there were some major differences. This one looked stronger and his hair was longer. Also his face showed signs of recent shaving. 'Lelouch would never of had the patience to work out and he would have shaved long before he had a beard.' she thought, 'Just an imposter.' Her blood began to boil with that thought.

"Who are you?! Why did you give me that message?!" shouted Kallen angrily.

The teenager smiled and said, "Don't you remember Kallen? It hasn't been that long."

Kallen shouted, "YOU LIER!! LELOUCH IS DEAD!! and you are definintly not Suzaku! So who are you!!"

The teenager looked at her and smiled. Then in a dramatic voice stated, "I am the one who destroyed the world, and made it anew."He slowly began walking around the 2nd floor watching Kallen, "I am the one who fought for freedom for all peoples from Brittania. I am the one who when my people betrayed me went and reclaimed his birthright. I am the one who brought the world to its very knees and who when the time was right gave his life so that that world could live in peace."

"I am the one who has come to bring the world back from the brink of destruction. They call me many names. The Demon Emperor, The Destroyer of Hope, The Tyrant of the World, Lelouch Vi Brittania."

"They also call me other names The Harbinger of Freedom, The Shield of the Weak, The Sword of Justice, Zero"

The teen then shrugged and in his normal voice said, "But the name I was most fond of was Lelouch Lamperougne."

It was a good thing he had been moving because as soon as he had finished Kallen bolted up the stairs and ran towards him. Because he was half way round the floor and had been watching her tense with every name he had given off he had not only a warning but a few extra seconds before Kallen would get to him. Meanwhile while he was listing off names he had been formalizing a plan since it hadn't gone as well as he had hoped and he could tell Kallen wanted to kill him.

When Kallen was fifteen feet from him he took up a Jujutsu pose. 'I hope this works,' he thought then he had no time for think.

She was right up on him and then suddenly she was flying towards the wall.

Lelouch thought, "hmm it seems I will have to thank master Liu for those martial arts classes after all."

Then he remembered that everyone in the village was dead.

This made him stand there remembering while Kallen was getting on her feet. She rushed again and this time hit him square in the jaw sending him flying to the floor. This woke Lelouch from his stupor and he almost got up in time to stop kallen... unfortunatly he still was not as quick as her. She got there right as he stood up and sent him flying to the floor again.

Lelouch, coughed out blood and a tooth or three, then said, "Still as tough as ever Kallen."

Kallen, heaving with rage, shouted at him, "How dare you pretend to be him! How dare you! I watched him die! Zero killed him! And now on the day of my graduation you come up and pretend to be him of all people! How could you?! Who are you and I want the truth or so help me I'll kill you!"

Lelouch, sighed then smiled, "Well this could have gone better, though I guess I should't have expected it to. You can kill me if you want Kallen but I am really Lelouch and I am really alive."

Kallen's adrenaline starts to go away along with the red haze. She begins to see that this person looked a lot more like Lelouch than she had thought. She had focused on the differences between them but now that she looked the similarities were there that made it obvious who he was.. The arms were stronger, and not as flimsy, his hair was longer, and his chest was better defined. But the eyes... the eyes where the same..and that stupid smirk he was giving her. Kallen slowly fell to the floor and said,"Lelouch is... is it really you?" Her voice was shaking.

Lelouch sat up and goes over to her. "Yes Kallen it's me... I'm back"

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**Ok so I hope you all liked it. For those who didn't realize it the 1st paragraph was stopped because the rest isn't important. Imagine the screen fading out as they speak the last sentence and you should be ok. Also in the 2nd paragraph I don't feel like I got the meeting down right so if you think I did a good job please say so. This maybe my last update till after Christmas. I have exams coming up and should be studying for them right now XD but wanted to get the cliff hanger out of here. Also I'll be spending Christmas with my family so won't have much time to write. Should I get a ch done I'll post but I don't think I will. Sorry about that but in case I don't get another ch up.... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! :)**

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	7. Reunion

**Hey guys Im back! Thanks for waiting and hope you all enjoy. **

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**_Imperial Palace, New Pendragon_**

Nunnally looked out across the table at Zero. Then turned to the left to Prime Minister Powell. "You are sure of this, Prime Minister?"

"Completely my lady," stated the Prime Minister," Denmark has betrayed the Western forces and is even now marching on Berlin with their Third Knightmare Corp. Their troops have defected across the board and have devastated The West's forces. If Berlin falls then it will be a massive turn around as Warsaw has been under-siege up-till now. This defection could turn the entire war. Of course it will still be a long war."

"Thank you Minister Powell," said Nunnally, "anything else to report?"

"Yes my lady," said General Coleman, "General Hollister has not made any significant gains in the south. He has however recently defeated a large rebel attack force that struck at Caracas. He has begun building defensive installations to prevent them from gaining any ground. He sends his regards and best wishes."

"Thank you General, anyone else have a report?" Nunnally asked once again.

"Ummmm.,,, Oh yes I do!" said Ambassador Norington. "Lu Ce, China's '_General Who Keeps the Peace_' has agreed to terms withthe United Islamic Theocratic Republic, which consists of the territories of Jordan, Syria, Arabia, Iraq, and Persia, officially recognizing the republic as a sovereign state and has initiated diplomatic ties with them. They have also requested the Islamic Republic to rescue their Islamic brethren that are under Indian rule. "The Ambassador smiled, "This would open a second war front against India and help the chineseget back on their feet. But both the Turks and the Kurds have refused to join this Republic and the Jews have vowed to not leave their homeland again. So how many troops they will send against India is unknown. The Kurds are tired of being looked down upon as second class muslimsand have declared their own Nation of Kurdistan. The problem is many of the areas they claim are also claimed by the Islamic Republic, the Turks meanwhile, have declared their nation, the Republic of Turkey after learning that the Islamic nation was to be a Republic not the rebirth of the Ottoman Empire. Also the Israelis have occupied the Golan Heights in preparation for what they see as a coming war to destroy them. But I do not believe they have to worry. The Islamic Republic is barely holding and tensions are rising between the shi'a and the sunni muslims over who will run the government. The Sunni's have a much larger population than the Shi'ain all provinces except Persia and Iraq. This would mean the Sunni would run the country essentially, and would gain even more dominance should they indeed take the provinces of Pakistan and Afghanistan, both of which have large Sunni populations. So in other words, The wars have only just begun." stated the Ambassador.

Everyone thought about this for a few minutes then Nunnally said, "If that is all then this meeting is adjourned." The gathered officials stood up, bowed to Nunnally, and left the room, with the exception of Zero. After a minute Zero got up and checked outside. "Their gone." he said and turned around and took his mask off.

"Finally," said Nunnally, walking to her wheelchair. Even witha year worth of rehabilitation, she still could only walk a few yards without feeling extreme exhaustion. "I thought that the reports would never end," she said sliding in to her wheelchair, "The world is full of war right now, what do you think we can do?" she asked.

Suzaku came over, sat next to her, and said, "We just have to make it through it. You've done well since becoming Empress of the Empire."

"Some would disagree," she said dejectedly.

"Don't worry about them," Suzaku said, " those are the war-hawks who can't accept the empire not ruling the world. They will come around eventually."

She smiled at him and said, "Your right Suzaku, I'll try to keep my spirits up. Brother would not of wanted me to become depressed."

"Exactly, Nunnally. I'm sure he's watching over us right now protecting you and wanting you to be happy."

He stood up put on his mask, pushed the wheelchair into the hallway and took her to the Imperial Gardens where they talked the rest of the day thru, of light-hearted matters and memories. For a little while at least they could forget the problems of the world.

**_Student Council room_**

Kallen stared at Lelouch, many different thoughts going through her head. 'He's back! He's supposed to be dead! He betrayed me! For the sake of the world... I love him! He doesn't love me... ' All these thoughts rushed to her head as she watched Lelouch crawl over to her. Tears continued to fall from her eyes and she didn't know why. 'I should be happy right? It's just so confusing!'

Lelouch sat down next to her and gave her a sad smile, "I'm sorry Kallen, for everything. I never meant to hurt you. I did what I thought I had to. Obviously it didn't work out the way I had hoped."

Suddenly all the confusion just left Kallen and in one swift movement slapped lelouch upside the head. Lelouch tumbled backwards a good three feet. "How could you possibly know what I went through!" she shouted. She was on her feet towering over him, "I loved you! I would have done anything for you! All I wanted was for you to let me help you, and instead you decided to make the world hate you! I would of followed you even then..." Kallen began to sob again, " I would have followed you to the ends of the earth..." Angry once again, "But no! You stood there and said nothing to me! Then you made me have to try to kill you!" She suddenly burst into a new wave of tears and in a soft voice said, "And then... th-then.. you made me watch you die. And-and now on the day of my graduation... When I am finally starting to move on with my life you show up again!" Once again who mood switched from sorrow to outright fury. Lelouch was starting to get really worried that she might be unstable. He reminded himself that she didn't know that he was alive so this was a big shock for her, but still she was taking this much worse than he had thought.

'I forgot a very important thing,' thought Lelouch as Kallen stood over him switching back from distraught young women to enraged serial killer, 'she took my silence as a rejection, and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.... I am so dead.' Suddenly Kallen shouted "HUH!? How could you!" And suddenly he needed an answer. Lelouch looked up into the red heads beautiful green eyes and suddenly he knew what to say, "I can't." he said. Kallen looked at him confused at him not trying to deny it or say he had suffered as much. "I'm sorry Kallen, I don't have a clue how much you suffered. While you were giving your all for me, I was doing the same for the world. For me though to do what I had to do, I locked my emotions and feelings away. I locked them away in the hope of not hurting those that I cared about, namely Nunnally, Rivalz, and... you. I now see I brought more pain on you by doing that and I am sorry Kallen..."

Kallen slid to the floor, all of her anger drained away. She landed right in front of Lelouch who held her as she let all those emotions out that she had held in since the day she thought he had die. Kallenhated to feel weak, to feel vulnerable, but with him she felt it was ok to let her walls down. She Cried for the first time in a year. She hadn't even cried when her mother was sent back into rehab for refrain, but now she let it all out. Slowly all the pain of the last year, her mother, the Black Knights, the looks of either hatred or admiration from the students at the academy, never allowing her to be a normal student. It all left until she had found a place where she could be happy, in the arms of Lelouch. She turned and faced Lelouch, looked deep into his lavender eyes. Then Lelouch did something Kallen had never known him to do. He took the initiative and kissed her. She was so surprised at first she just sat there in shock. Then she woke from her trance and kissed him back.

They broke the kiss and stared at each other till they heard a shout from outside, "Madam President! We need you in the courtyard! Rivals has pulled another prank!"

"I DID NOT! Is it might fault you didn't support the stage properly!"

Kallen sighed and stood up. She looked at Lelouch then looked down at the door where she heard Rivalz voice. Suddenly she whirled around and looked at Lelouch, "You will come to my graduation tonight, wont you?"

"I'll be there," promised Lelouch truly smiling for the first time since the attack on his home, "you can count on it." She smiled at that and ran down the stairs, and out the door.

That evening the student body was assembled and all of those graduating were excited. Kallen was more so than most after learning that _he_was alive. She wondered if he really would be there. Then Friends Forever began to play on the speakers and the graduating class began to pour out of the student council room on their march to the courtyard, led by their president Kallen Kozuke. Beside her came Rivalz, his ever present smile on his face and shouting to the rest of the student body. They arrived in the courtyard to a huge applause and shouts. They moved to take their seats which were set up in front of the stage, which Kallen had finally got set up after Rivalz latest prank. They moved to take their seats and saw to their surprise a familiar face walk up on the stage. "Hellooo Ashford Academy!" shouted Milly Ashford, "Give it up for your graduating class of 2019!" A thunderous applause echoed through the courtyard. The graduating class smiled at each other and waved to their underclassmen friends. Milly waved the crowd into silence and then said, "Now give it up for my grandfather and your Dean!" Another loud applause echoed throughout the courtyard. Dean Ruben Ashford walked up to the stage and took the mic from Milly. "Thank you Milly. Now all of you have done well..." To Kallenit seemed like everything went at the speed of light. First the Dean was done talking. A second later she was done with her speech as valedictorian. Then in another second everyone was throwing their caps into the air. She wanted to leave immediately in the hopes of finding Lelouch, but was trapped by a wave of students who came and shook her hand, and saying good luck. Friends ran up and gave her hugs and said to keep in touch. Suddenly she got run over by an excited Rivalz who was rushing to see Milly. While she was trying to get up, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her up. A man she knew was standing there in front of her. _HE _had come after all!

He got her away from the crowd and found Rivalzmotorbike, "So where you want to go?" he asked with a devilish grin.

"You have Rivalzs' keys?" she asked.

"No," he replied reaching down underneath the bike, "but I do now." He showed her the keys which she promptly snatched out of his hands.

She jumped on the bike and said "Get in." He was surprised at first but then smirked and got in the passengers side.

Kallen started driving them through the city. Lelouch tried to look around at the changed but his eyes kept being drawn back to Kallen.

When she finally stopped he looked around to find them at a public park oddly. It was one of the few left in the city, so it was well taken care of.

"I like coming here. The cherry blossoms are so beautiful this time of year." She was looking out at them, almost as if Lelouch didn't exist.

In fact the Blossoms were beautiful, the cities glow seemed to cast a bright light from behind them, making all the better.

Lelouch watched her for a second, then she turned to him. He saw the look in her eyes and recognized it from after he kissed her before.

Soon the rest of the world seemed to stop existing as they kissed each other. They lost themselves in each other and it seemed like serveral hours before they finally had to stop, in truth it was minutes. "I'm so glad your back, Lelouch." Kallen said.

**So I hope you all enjoyed. I know some will hate me for the KallenxLelouch thing. don't worry CC will get her 15 seconds of fame as well. anyway hope you all liked and will continue reading.**


	8. It Begins Again

**Hi everyone! I'm back! I'm sorry, it's been a while. For a while I had writer's block, then school had a ton of projects and essays and then I could not think about it. Anyway I had to force myself to get this done so I hope you enjoy it. I am going to watch the show over to try to get inspired to right again. You guys will hear back from me, I promise. ANyway I hope you enjoy, as always review and leave any questions, comments, or concerns. I will try to answer them. Now for a shout out to my reviewers.**

**deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover : Srry that you don't like it. I hope youll continue to read and enjoy those parts without Kallen and Lelouch**

**blackdeathmessenger, Trife : Thanks, I hope you continue to enjoy the story as the plot unfolds.**

**bob115 : thanks Im glad you liked it. I'll try to go back and fix ch7's punctuation problems (thanks for catching that) Hope you continue to enjoy.**

**TheDisruptiveOne: yeah I'm not a big fan of CC either but unfortunately if I'm going to stay true to the anime then CC has her role to play.**

**JInx: I explained that in ch 1. He got his code from his father and so his pact with CC is incomplete and so he still has Geass**

**Osito13: I'm glad you liked it. You'll have to wait a little for more chs such as that as things are really going to start heating up if I can get writing.**

**Draketh: Thanks **

**Firemasterofkaos: thanks but how would you change Lelouch's character to make it right? **

**Thanks for the Feedback everyone and hope to continue hearing from you as this story progresses.**

**And to all my fans that don't or can't review, I hope you enjoy the story also. **

**Now enough of me talking time to get to the story. Enjoy!**

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**Rebel Camp, Forest of Columbia**

Clinton was playing cards with Captain Uribe. In the days that he had been with the rebels he had learned that they fought for freedom and equality. Yet unlike most rebels this group had many Brittanian immigrants in their force as well.

'It seems that the people have come to think of themselves as Americans instead of Brittanians.' thought the ambassador. He played down his pair, looked up and saw Uribe smile. "Gotcha!" said Uribe, and played his three of a kind. Suddenly a scout ran up to Uribe, "Sir! The Commander! He is here!"

"WHAT!" shouted Uribe. He jumped up and started shouting, "Clean up you maggots! The commander is coming! Get up you lazy bones, put on a clean shirt and stand at attention!"

Suddenly an 8th Generation Knightmare flanked by two 7th generations knightmares flew by and landed in the camp. The Captain shouted, "Attention!" and all the rebels suddenly snapped to attention. The cockpits opened and out came the pilots.

The leader jumped down and shouted "Uribe! I've heard you have been doing well up here." he walked over to Captain Uribe, "I want to hear a full report."

"SIr! We have ambushed thirteen Brittanian patrols, captured seven Knightmare Frames and run them out of five garrisons, in the last month Sir!" Uribe said as he guided the commander to his tent.

"That is good news, anything important I need to know?"

"Yes sir! An ambassador is here to speak with you sir, from the Brittanian Empire, sir!"

"Oh really? Where is he?"

"I''m here sir." said Ambassador Clinton, running up along side the commander, "Ambassador Clinton at your service."

"So you are the ambassador from our oppressors..." the Commander said darkly.

Ambassador Clinton was thrown off balance by that statement and stuttered, "Yes. I mean no. I mean I'm sorry if you feel that way sir." Regaining his composure he said, "Her Imperial Highness wishes me to offer you a full pardon, and is willing to negotiate on an autonomous region in South America."

"Oh really? So she's already offering that much? That wouldn't happen to be because she's worried about Hollister is it?" He turned to the ambassador with a smirk, "He has a lot of power here. He controls much of the north and center of the continent. She's afraid he will declare his independence and claim the south for himself. That's why she has sent you. Well I'm afraid that she needn't have bothered, we will never accept a dictator again."

"The Empress does not wish to be a dictator. She only wishes to keep the peace that you are breaking. The Empress only wishes to preserve the Empire. That is why she is willing to allow you a self-governing region, free from Brittanian influence."

Sitting down in the Captain's tent, the Rebel Commander looked up at the Ambassador, "Do you know who I am?" he asked Clinton.

"Uh... You are the commander of the South American Liberation Army... You claim to be a descendent of Simeon Bolivar, one of the leaders of the former Republic of South America..."

"Claim? So you do not believe that I am?"

"With all due respect, the Bolivars were destroyed 100 years ago during the 3rd War of Brittanian Expansion. The head of the Family Simeon Bolivar IV stayed at the Capitol of Bogota to hold off the Britanian forces. He failed as the Brittanian forces destoryed Bogota in one attack and at the same time a regiment arrived at Cali. They killed everyone in the city. The entire Bolivar family was massacred at Cali. I just don't see how you could be a true Bolivar."

"Ha, you know your history. Unfortunately, that is text book history which is always written by the victors. Also history is incomplete. Do you know how many members of the Bolivar family there was? No? Then how can you know that all of the members were slain? In fact one member did survive. His name was Jose Bolivar. He was with the Martins in Buenos Aires at the time. He went with them when they escaped to Spain. He was my great-grandfather. There they worked for the Spainish government along side the Martins and helped secure Spain's independence following the end of the Napoleonic Dynasty in 1921. In 1923 the Euro Universe was officially integrated as one nation under a rotating presidency. I returned to Columbia in the year 2000. My father was currently the Governor of Madrid. Yet you and your history books did not realize that the Bolivars still lived because of your philosophy believing that we are below you. You did not even hear about all this. Yet Europe knows all about my family. Even when you controlled Spain, your people refused to look up the governors and the like. They were just Numbers, and so your bigotry became our ally. That is my story Ambassador. You may believe that I am a real Bolivar or not. What you must believe however is that I am the leader of the South American Liberation Army and that I will do everything in my power to finish what I've started. Now go. The Captain and I must discuss something in private, I will speak to you afterwards. "

Ambassador Clinton walked outside pondering all that he had learned, yet he caught one last piece of news before he was out of hearing range.

"They seem to know every move we are going to make, and have recently destroyed our pacific fleet. They have received Knightmare Frames that I have never seen before. They seem invincible and...."

As walked out of hearing range he could see dark clouds on the horizon, both literally and figuratively. He pondered this new information. 'Who could be giving them new Knightmare Frames? Hollister didn't have any 8 generation, much less something more powerful... Who could it be supplying him with new Knightmares? What were they? How powerful are these Knightmares? Are they some new generation, or just an upgraded model? I must find out!'

Just then the storm broke upon the camp. A storm like no other. It was a storm of power.. of change. Clinton could feel it in his bones. The world he had known, would not come back. It is gone forever, and a new age had come. As the rain beat down upon the camp and lightening crashed in the sky, he knew the critical moment it the world's future was coming. Suddenly a burst of lightening lit up the sky! and there he saw three Knightmare Frames... Frames that he had never seen before. Two were white as the Lancelot, yet bulkier... more like the Shinkiro. They both had a sword on their backs and white energy wings! They reminded him of angel's wings... The third, the lead one, was black. It was hard to see in the storm, only illuminated by the lightening. Yet Clinton could see a pair of Black energy wings as the lightening struck. It was as big as the others, but beyond that Clinton could not tell due to the lack of light. Suddenly the Black one reached behind his back, and pulled out something. As another burst of lightening struck, Clinton saw what looked like a staff in the frames hands, he also saw that it was wearing a black hood and cape. Suddenly the staff flared to life. With growing dread Clinton saw what it was. It was a scythe, as used by the Grim Reaper! In fact, the Knightmare looked like the Grim Reaper himself! The camp went into an uproar! Everyone ran to his or her Knightmare, and those without ran for their guns. Suddenly the black Knightmare spoke, "Put down your arms and evacuate your Knightmares, and you will be spared. Hand over Commander Bolivar and, or Captain Uribe, and you will be given a position in the South American Armed forces. This is your first and last warning." Clinton was astounded, not a single man even blinked! They were all loyal to this man, even to the point of death.

"Very well then! The Reaper has Come! Prepare to DIE!" With that, the white Knightmares pulled out their swords. They glowed with a heavenly brilliance, and as the rebel Knightmares took off all three of the Knightmares above came down to engage. Suddenly the two angelic knightmares stopped, opened their wings to the fullest. Clinton was astounded! 'What could they be doing?' he wondered. He got his answer. Energy spikes flew down at the Rebel Knightmares. They hit with deadly accuracy destroying over half of the Rebels. Then the Reaper appeared and struck, slashing through one, then two, then three knightmares. He would be at one point one second, then the next behind someone else!

Clinton heard Captain Uribe and Commander Bolivar running towards their Knightmares, and yelling at one another, "Captain! I will not leave my men! I fight and die with them, whatever the cost may be I will take it!"

"Sir! You are the Heart and Soul of this Rebellion! If you die we are finished! I will lead the men! You escape while you still can!"

"No! I will not abandon my men! I-"

"Sir! With all do respect! You will leave or I will have some of my boys drag you away! You are our one hope! I will not let you throw your life away in some misguided since of Honor! Don't worry, I will keep my boys save. Just get out of here!"

".... Very well Uribe I will do so. You are right... I can not fall here. Ambassador! Hurry! you will come with me. I will not leave an ambassador here to be slain by these blood thirsty tyrants!"

Uribe took off in his Knightmare and the Ambassador climbed into the cockpit.

"You ready Ambassador? Very well, we are off then... Man I hate Uribe when he is right!" As they took off they saw Uribe rallying his men. The Angelic Frames came and struck out at them and Uribe easily blocked. His men fought with renewed vigor seeing their captain fight alongside them. Bolivar's bodyguards came up besides him and together the three frames left the battle.

**Imperial Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing**

"Your Imperial Highness. The negotiations with the Islamic Republic are going very well. We are hopeful that by the end of next week we can get their assistance. That is, assuming the Shi'ites don't break the republic apart first...."

"Thank you Minister Liu. Now how goes the war? What is the word from the front?" said Empress Tianzi. She sighed as her ministers began reciting numbers and names of places she barely knew. Not for the first time did she curse the eunuchs for using her as a figure head and neglecting her Geographic and military education. They had made her study the Arts and Language which she had agreed to whole-heartedly back then but now saw made her practically useless in the current crisis.

Minister Liu was saying, " Grand General Li Xingke is based in Cheng Du, in the Sichuan Basin. General who Guards the East Hong Gu is based in Kunming, and General who Suppresses Rebels Lady Zhou Xianglin has set her command post at Lijiang City. The Indian backed forces are pushing hard but Grand General Li Xingke has holding the front and is preventing them from advancing. Lady Xianglin is fighting on two fronts battling both the Tibetan forces led by the 21st Dalai Lama in the west, and the 1st and 3rd knightmare corps of the Indian Army led by General Pandit Dutta in the south. Meanwhile Master Gu is battling Vietnamese forces lead by King Nguyen in the south. General Xingke is supporting both and working with General who Pacifies the North Yuan Chan on how to hold against the Korean, and Mongolian rebels. Northern Manchuria has become a battle ground along with Outer Mongolia. There are many units that are loyal to the empire that are trapped behind enemy lines. They are systematically being wiped-out by the traitors. Master Chan is trying to rescue them but he does not have enough knightmare units to make a push on one area without leaving another wide open. The north needs help. I suggest the 7th corp be dispatched to assist to the war in the north."

"Are you mad!" Shouted Minister Liao, " The 7th corp is stationed here in Beijing! If we send them all that will be left here are the Imperial Guards and the Celestial Dragons! Though they are the best Knightmares we have together they number only 55 units and should we be attacked that is to little to protect the city." He turned to face Tianzi, "Empress please do not send the 7th corp."

She may of had little training in strategic matters but she knew what she must do in this situation. She looked up and said, " We will send the 7th corp."

Minister Liao shouted in surprise and said, "Hadn't we first talk to Master Xingke?! He is the Grand General who came up with the strategy for positioning the 7th here! Perhaps you should ask him why he set up-

"QUITE LIAO! I am the Empress! The one who has been chosen by Heaven to lead the Empire! Do you think to disobey me or subvert my authority?!"

"Of-of course not your highness. As you command it shall be done."

"Very well, we shall send the 7th corp. We will move the Capitol to Xu Chang. There we will be closer to General Xingke. We will be safer there and the North will be better protected. Any arguments? No? Then you are dismissed." The ministers quickly left the room a knowing not to argue with her when she got like this. She had had enough of being a figurehead. It was time to be the leader she was born to be.

**Tokyo, Japan**

Finally they were ready. Jerimiah had arrived two days earlier and Kallen had been ready since her graduation. All the preparations were made. The time had come to begin to save the world. Yet, Lelouch was hesitant... He sat in his hotel room, as time passed. He kept going through every detail in his head. It was a good plan. He had figured out every angle. He was ready for every eventuality. It could not fail. Yet, he still hesitated. He could not even get off of his bed.

'What if I get them killed? What if I make the world even worse? What if I get Nunnally Killed!?' All these thoughts went running through his head, and no matter how many times he justified himself these thoughts kept going through his head. Suddenly the door opened, breaking his concentration, and in walked CC.

"What do you want witch?" Lelouch said distracted. C.C. walked over and sat beside him. "Why are you nervous?" She said, right to the point. "Becuase, I don't want to jump in and mess things up worse." He replied off handely, he was finding it hard to think. C.C. looked at him for a second then stood up, "You've become soft, Lelouch. You used to gamble everything with no regard. That's the person I followed. That person was who convinced me to keep living... You'd better get ready Lelouch, we're leaving soon." C.C. left leaving Lelouch more confused and worried than before, but for completly different reasons.

He pulled himself together and they went to meet the rest of the team. As they arrived at the Tokyo City Hall, they saw Jerimiah and Kallen coming up from the opposite street. "Well," said Lelouch, " We are all ready right?" Everyone nodded. "Then lets do this. Kallen lead the way." Jerimiah crossed first, and once across activated his Geass Nullifier, engulfing the building and surrounding properties. Kallen then took point with Lelouch Lelouch and CC crossed the street at a different point. It was hard enough for Lelouch to keep himself hidden, let alone an android or a girl with green hair. Thus the plan began. Kallen led them across the street to the Black Knights Headquarters which was right across from city hall. As they approached Lelouch kept his head down. Kallen walked right up to the guard on duty, "Hey Hidemoto, what's up? How's everything with the knights?" The guard looked at her and smiled and said, "Oh hi Kallen, heard you graduated a few days ago? Heard you made Valevictorian, good job, just goes to show how lucky we were to have you Kallen." At that moment he noticed Lelouch, "Hey who are you?" Lelouch lifted his head, took his contacts out and said, "I command you, do whatever I tell you." The guard blinked and then said, "Of course what is your command?" Lelouch answered, "Let us in. Then act as if nothing is wrong, and continue with your business as normal until you receive further orders."

Hidemoto nodded and opened the gate. Lelouch, Kallen, Jerimiah, and CC walked in with Lelouch at point now towards the main building. Lelouch put his contacts in their container and went up to the guards at the front of the building, "I, Lelouch vi Brittania command you, obey my every order." "We do as you command!" the guards said while snapping to attention. "Lead me to the Central Security Station." "Understood Sir!" The guards opened the doors and led the way the security station. Jerimiah stayed behind while Kallen led CC to the Knightmare storage area. 'Everyone is doing their jobs,' thought Lelouch, 'I have to make sure I don't mess up.' When they arrived at the security station, Lelouch told them to walk in and after a second of conversation two new guards appeared. Lelouch looked at them and said "Obey my every order!" The guards nodded and Lelouch said, "Come with me," with that Lelouch pushed open the door. The Security room held four men, two of which were already under Lelouch's command while the other two were surprised by another interruption. "Obey my every command!" As they surrendered their free will to his Geass he smiled at how easily he had made his army go from four to eleven. "All of you get out and guard this room. If anyone comes in this hallway knock on the door and when I respond throw them in." "Yes sir!"

Lelouch sat down in the chairs and began surveying the cameras. He saw Jerimiah had moved into position on the roof and Kallen and CC had both found the Knightmares that were kept here. It was only three riot suppression Knightmares, but they would do. Hopefully though they would not have to be used. He looked at the time. It was 2:00 P.M. He had chose this day because he could finish both his objectives at once. Prime Minister Ohgi was to meet General Tohdoh here at 2:15. Speaking of which, there Tohdoh was on the screen. He was getting his notes together, no doubt about the uprising in the north which had forced Lelouch to act. Lelouch smiled as he watched everything in the building happen. CC had been right, he had gotten soft. Now though he could feel his old strength and ambition coming back to him. 'I have not felt so alive in a long time' he thought. He looked at the time and saw it was 2:10, any minute now Ohgi would be arriving. A knock on the door told him his guards had caught someone, "Yes?" his geassed troops opened the door and threw in 2 more security officers. Lelouch promptly geassed them and sent them back out. It was 2:10 and as Lelouch watched in walked Prime Minister Ohgi, with his staff at his side. 'That traitor will pay dearly for everything he did to me' thought Lelouch. It was time to move. He contacted Jerimiah, Kallen, and CC and walked out of the security room. Kallen and CC were ready in the Knightmares if thinks got ugly and Jerimiah was ready to pounce should anything happen.

"Follow me," said Lelouch to his geassed troops. He had uploaded the cameras data stream to his cell phone. This allowed him to know where the meeting was taking place. "Jerimiah, third floor, second room on the left, how fast can you get there?" "I'll be there in no time at all." In five minutes everyone was assembled outside the door. "Ok Jerimiah, it's time we take the first step to bringing peace back to this world." "Of course Master Lelouch I am happy to be of service." said Jerimiah.

Let's do this, you six go, into that room and capture Tohdoh and Ohgi." "Yes Sir!" The Geassed soldiers opened the door, drew their weapons and yelled, "Everybody freeze!" Tohdoh jumped up, "What is the meaning of this!? Have you lost your mind Shimazu? Why are you here, and you Hanzo, and Kuroda. Explain yourselves!"

"I'm afraid Tohdoh, that their actions have to deal with my orders said Lelouch, walking in behind Jerimiah who closed the door. "You! Yo-You are dead! How can you be here!?" shouted Tohdoh. Crash! Ohgi fell over in his chair after seeing Lelouch. "Hmpff pathetic," said Lelouch, " I grow weary of this pitiful reaction," He looked at Ohgi,Tohdoh and the rest,making eye contact with each one before saying, "I Lelouch vi Brittania Commands you! Obey me!"

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**Well there you have it folks. I hope you liked it. I'll try to get these chs out sooner but no promises. I hope you like it and will review. **

**Ok Thomas, the other half of this account, here. For some reason LZ felt no need to tell you guys that he's on lent. So he wont post untill easter at the earilest. Knowing him I don't think he'll be writing durning his break. Just enjoy this part of the story and keep it in mind for later.**


	9. A Deal is Struck

**Hey guys I'm back! Sorry its been so long but once again I had a lot of writers block, and I just never seemed to have time. Also I fixed ch1 so that it is no longer in a script format. Anyway I got it done. Its not as good as I would have wanted it as I would have like to put in more perspectives, but It is already pretty long and I've made you guys and gals wait long enough. So I hope you enjoy and will continue to read and review. Now a shout out to my reviewers.**

**General Nitro**- **Thanks and if you will look again now ch1 is no longer "role play style" either. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it unfolds**

**deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover - I'm glad you loved the end. It was my favorite part to write **

**Edu- Looks that way doesn't it.**

**hugglestheknowitall- Thanks! I hope you will continue to enjoy it**

**graydawn- That it is.**

**RyumaOmega - As much as I dislike CC Ryuma you are perfectly right. In all seriousness I just needed a way for Lelouch to get back into the game and CC was the easiest way. Don't worry she won't be a ** throughout the story. I will be the first to admit that she is a great character and the series would be missing a lot without her. So don't worry, she won't be a ** in my story. Just needed to have someone give Lelouch a push out the door.**

**EmoLollipop - yep, I always imagine him doing that whenever he finds out Lelouch is alive.**

**Osito13- Sorry that it took so long, but here it is.**

**And now, for what you all have been waiting for! Let the story begin!**

**_Japanese Military Command Center, Tokyo_**

"Take a seat Ohgi, Tohdoh. Everyone else except Jeremiah, out of the room." All of the geassed security officers and aides left the room. "Now Ohgi, Tohdoh, I command you to never reveal my existence in any way. You will also not shout or scream. You shall also not harm Jeremiah, or myself in anyway. Now with that settled I give you permission to think and speak freely." Tohdoh and Ohgi's eyes faded back to normal, and their faces began to turn from that blank expression of the geassed to one of absolute terror.

"Y-Your supposed to be dead! How is this even possible?! I watched you die!" said a terrified Ohgi. Tohdoh regained his composure and putting on a fake smile said, "Well Lelouch, in the end you do get the last laugh after all. Considering that I have already tried to reach for my gun and can not pull it out of the holster I must assume that we have been geassed. So with that, you have complete control over us. So what do you plan to do?"

"Good question Tohdoh. You're a military man. What would you do to one of your generals who tried to perform a coup against you?"

"Hmm well is that how it is to be? Well then Lelouch, you know very well what I would do. I would put them on trial and should they be found guilty, have them executed as the traitors to Japan that they would be. As this is to be my fate, I request that you leave my family out of this. I was the one who betrayed you... They have nothing to do with it."

Lelouch looked over at his former field commander curiously, " You have a family Tohdoh? I would of never expected you to settle down... HA! It isn't Nagisa Chiba is it?"

Tohdoh looked down at his feet cursing himself for a fool. Of course he wouldn't know about it. Zero never payed much attention to his targets personal life outside of the information needed for the attack. Tohdoh decided that he would not hurt them anymore. He defiantly kept his mouth shut.

"So, don't feel like sharing any more? Well then I'll just extract the information I seek. I command you to answer the question Tohdoh, who is your family?"

A red haze filled Tohdoh's eyes and his face turned to one of indifference. He said,"Nagisa Chiba is my wife of eleven months. Last month she gave birth to a son who we named Takatora Tohdoh. The rest of my family was killed in the war."

"Very well Tohdoh you may have your freewill back. Oh but before you do, hand over your gun to Jeremiah." stated a satisfied Lelouch. Tohdoh once again felt his mind come under his control again and said, "I told him, didn't I Ohgi." Ohgi simply nodded, still dumbfounded by the fact that Lelouch was still alive and that Tohdoh and himself were geassed. Tohdoh looked back up at Lelouch and said, "Please Lelouch, spare them. I'm the one who betrayed you. She just followed my orders. Leave her be."

"Well know Tohdoh I don't believe that. Chiba didn't like me since I left in the middle of the First Battle of Tokyo. I know for a fact that she talked about me betraying you multiple times. So tell me, why should I spare them? Why shouldn't they get the same treatment as you?"

Tohdoh just bowed his head and looked at his feet with a defeated expression on his face. Lelouch then turned to Ohgi, "What about you Ohgi? Did you finally marry Villetta? That's an order, answer the question."

Ohgi once again lost his free will and finally that terrified expression left his face as he responded, "Yes, a month after we were released we had our marriage. It was only a two weeks before Tohdoh's marriage. Five months later she gave birth to a daughter who we named Chigusa Ohgi, after what I had named Villetta when we first met."

"Very well Ohgi, you may have your freewill back. Ohgi gained back his mind and realized what he had done and began to weep."Oh don't cry you traitor. Though you both deserve it, I am not going to kill you." The two looked up startled at this. "No I have much need for the two of you. You will both serve me as I once again try to bring peace to the world. The peace I died to bring about, yet you and the rest of your politicians couldn't keep. You asked earlier how I am alive? For along time I wondered myself. I have finally decided on an answer. I was called back by all those souls who died to bring peace to this world which you and your like have wasted and destroyed. As the souls of those who died can not rest, neither can I, the reason for many of those souls deaths, rest. You two, are the first step to helping me quite those souls. You are under Geass, yet I would have you join me willingly if possible, as Geassed soldiers are merely fodder for the cannon."

Tohdoh looked up at him a curious expression in his eye. Ohgi however immediately said, "No way will we be helping you! You are a tyrant and a traitor! Why don't you go to your Brittanian buddies and get them to help you take over the world! Your own sister is leading them! I should of known she was a puppet for you! I.."

"Shut up Ohgi!" shouted Tohdoh. Ohgi turned and looked at his general in surprise and confusion, Tohdoh continued, "This man gave his life to try to bring the world into an era of peace. I thought he was a tyrant as well, but would a tyrant of died for the world and only reveal himself in our hour of greatest need? You can say he is evil, but he is right. We had the perfect opportunity to bring this world together and we failed. Now I'm inclined to believe him. He has only twice given us reason to doubt him. Both of those incidents stemmed from us not knowing who he was and about the power he has. The reason we lost at First Tokyo was because he left to save his sister. Look at him Ohgi, he was a teen, a brilliant teen, but still a teen. His sister was probably what he fought for. The only other time was the massacre in China. We later learned it was a Geass factory, making more people who could do what he can. In retrospect both of these are understandable. It is in my opinion, that we were wrong in betraying him." Turning to Lelouch he said, "You can count on the Japanese military for support, as long as you leave my family out of this."

"Very well Tohdoh, I shall not interact with Chiba as long as you continue to follow my orders willingly. I still want your opinion on military matters but when I make it an order I expect it to be obeyed, understood?"

"Completely." said Tohdoh. "Good," stated Lelouch, and turning to Ohgi said, What about you?"

Ohgi looked down at his hands then over at Tohdoh, and finally said, "I don't have much of a choice do I? If I resist you will just kill me or use my family as blackmail. Yes I will join you, on the condition that you will not harm my family."

"Wow I never would of guessed that you would be the one to give in last, but your new found responsibilities must of given you some kind of backbone. However it has occurred to me Ohgi that you are an elected official and you have very few skills. As such, you are not as useful as Tohdoh is to me. In fact," Lelouch's face turned to one of an evil smirk, "you are probably more useful to me dead as a martyr than as a politician."

Ohgi's faced paled as Lelouch's meaning set in. "Y-You can't be serious!" stuttered a terrified Ohgi.

"Oh can't I? I have no need of you, besides which you betrayed me. Give me one reason why I should spare you. You have ten seconds to come up with an answer before I let Jerimiah gut you. One, two, three, four.....

As time ticked by Ohgi could feel the sweat coming from his brow. 'I must think of something!' thought a distraught Ohgi.

"Six, seven...."

'Something that would touch Lelouch... Think Kaname or your a dead man... THINK!'

"Nine, te-"

"Would you force my daughter to suffer the same fate as your sister? A life of abandonment? Villetta can not take care of her my daughter alone. She suffers from nervous breakdowns and flashbacks from her time in the brittanian army. She never suffered from them before but the doctors say they were brought on by her hormone and stress levels before, during and after pregnancy. If I die, she is liable to commit suicide. Please... if you are going to kill me, at least help my wife to overcome this....Have someone help her to get over my death so she does not leave the baby without even one parent."

Lelouch's face was as usual a perfect mask but inside he was torn... was there truly any reason to kill Ohgi? After all he was an elected official and he was already under control...

Finally Lelouch came to a decision, " Very well Ohgi I will give you six months to prove to me if you are worth more alive than dead. If you are not then you will die, if you are then you shall continue your term as Prime Minister under my control. Should you betray me again though, and this goes for the both of you, I will kill you. This is your first and last absolution. The next time it will not be forgiven. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly," said Ohgi

"Crystal," said Tohdoh

"Good, now tell me what you know of what is going on in the world and especially on the terrorists in Hokkaido. I want a full report."

"Of course," said the two together.

**_Unknown Location_**

"Nearly time, the time has nearly come to bring this world to its knees. The plan is in place and soon the world will be mine! Hahahahahahahaahahaaha!

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**So did you enjoy it? As I said before I don't think this was my best but it will do for now. I am going to try to finish the next ch up much faster and hopefully it will not be all talking between three people.  
**


	10. We March!

**Hey guys I'm back! So this one was quicker than the last 2-3 chapters. Unfortunately that has its own consequences, as I had wanted to have quite a lot more in this chapter, such as catching up with some of my other characters to let you know how the rest of the world is going and having some nice fight scenes. I do promise you this however, the next chapter will have a few battles spanning the globe (hopefully catching up with the rest of my characters in this story line) Anyway I know some of you are going to be getting impatient for the fighting to begin, all I can say is that it is coming and I hope you will stick with me as I work past my mental block and get these fights going. With that said, its time for a shout out to my reviewers!**

**rcuellar- To tell you the truth I have decided but as of yet the pairing is not really important. However I will tell you this, this story is kind of like both a LelouchXKallen and a LelouchXCC. Lelouch cares for both of them and so up to a certain point it will be both. Also I am glad you liked Tohdoh's view of Lelouch.  
**

**bob115- Yep starting next chapter the fighting will finally get under way.**

**EmoLollipop- My original plan was to kill Ohgi off. Yet I just couldn't seem to do it, the closer I got the more reasons I came up with sparing him... for now. We will have to see if he survives throughout the story line.**

**AAAAA- lol well here it is.**

**hugglestheknowitall- Lol Glad you liked it. Also I'm glad you liked my decision to spare him. We will see how far he makes it through the story line, who knows you might get lucky and have Ohgi survive all the way through. Can't promise though.**

**Akira Stridder- You will find out soon ^_^**

**PauliePT90- Thanks, that is really great of you to say as I never really considered myself a good writer. So once again thanks for the compliment. As for your question, as stated above, this is really pretty much going to contain both throughout the story. I do have a surprise planned for later though so it won't always be this way, I won't say anymore, not wanting to ruin it, but lets just say it will be surprising.**

**neji447- Thanks for the compliment, and as requested this chapter has come out faster than the previous ones. I am still working on being quick about it but I am trying to get faster with updating.**

**Osito13- Actually to be truthful neither did I as my original plan was to kill Ohgi off. Strange things happen though and I decided to spare Ohgi for now.**

**blackdeathmessenger- thanks, and hope your computer problems are over.**

**ICYKING- lol well I'm afraid you will have to wait one more chapter. I had originally planned to have some epic battles for this chapter, but time just got away from me and when I did sit down to write I couldn't visualize my battles. **

**Thanks everyone for reviewing and I hope you continue to read and review. Enjoy this chapter everyone and hope to hear feedback from you. Now lets get to the story!**

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**_Berlin, Germany_**

"All units begin the countdown. Final check of the Kaiser class Knightmare Frames may now begin. " stated the control platform.

Conrad began activating his controls. "Left arm functional. Right arm functional. Legs operational. Energy at 100%. All systems are go. " As he did the last minute checks of his control system, his radio turned on. "Sounds good Conrad, all readouts look good. You are free for take off."

"Understood, 7th Knight of Berlin, Conrad Muller launching." Conrad flipped the switch for the boosters. As he did so he heard the roar of eight other engines being turned on almost simultaneously. As he blasted out of the compound, he could feel how much smoother his flight was compared to in his custom Panzer. The new model had improved maneuverability and speed. Once again his radio clicked on, " Ok everything looks good Conrad, power saving has increased by ten percent and your top speed has doubled. Final check is complete, this is the final transmission from command, orders shall be relayed to Knight of One Prince Wilhelm XII. He will relay orders to you and the rest of the Knights."

"Understood, Conrad out."

Once again his radio clicked on, "All Knights report in." said a commanding voice over the radio.

"Knight of Two, Benjamin Wulff."

"Knight of Three, Max Becker."

"Knight of Four, Leon Hoffmann."

"Knight of Five, Sophie Weber."

"Knight of Six, Tim Fischer."

"Knight of Seven, Conrad Muller."

"Knight of Eight, Maximilian Graf"

.....

"Knight of Ten, Maria Wagner."

"Good everyone has reported in." Stated the Knight of One.

"Wait, where is the Knight of Nine, where is Lucas?" asked Sophie.

"Don't worry about him, unfortunately he is on loan to the French. In exchange they are sending us a company of their new mass production models. Apparently, Lucas helped them finish the testing of the model. Anyway, we have a job to do. Everyone's power is still nearly full correct?"

"Yes, Sir!" stated the knights together.

"Very well, then lets move out! We head towards Hennigsdorf. It is the last defense before Berlin. As you know, the traitorus Danes have pushed that far. Now it is our time to push them back! Knights of Berlin! We, are the best Germany has at its defense! Now we march! And as always my friends, remember, Gott mit uns! (God with us)"

Conrad took up formation along the outer edge of the Arrow formation. Together the Knights flew towards the defenses at Henningsdorf.

**_Army base camp, City of Sapporo, Island of Hokkado, Japan_**

Lelouch watched on his portable television, as Ohgi made his speech to the people of Japan. Ohgi was saying, "My friends, currently General Tohdoh has taken the Japanese armed forces to Hokkado, where they have already engaged the terrorist forces and are weeding out the ARG and soon our nation will be free of this group once and for all!"

As Ohgi continued his speech Lelouch switched off the TV. "It seems Ohgi is really trying to earn his keep. Looks like he finally found his calling as well, he was practically useless as a military man, yet as a civilian leader he may actually prove useful." said Lelouch.

"Ohgi is an excellent prime minister. The people support him and at times he shows brilliance at rallying the people to support his policies and opinions. You will be thankful in the end that you spared his life." said Tohdoh

"I hope so. Anyway how much longer until we know exactly where the ARG is based? We've already swept half of the island, it shouldn't be taking this long just to find a bunch of terrorists..."

"With all due respect sir, fighting terrorists is a lot different from fighting an army. They hide until they find an isolated unit, then attack and by the time reinforcements arrive they run back into their hiding places. We have already cleared Hiyama-shiicho, Oshima-shicho, Shiribeshi-shicho, Iburi-shicho, Hidaka-shicho, Hidaka-shicho, and Ishikari-shicho subprefectures. We have only searched half of Sorachi-shicho and Tokachi Shicho. The navy have occupied the town of Kushiro in Kushiro-shicho subprefecture, but that is as far as we have gotten there. There are still five subprefectures left to search through. They could be anywhere and we have to search throughly. Don't get me wrong, there have been some engagements, but not a decisive one. This is going to be a long and hard campaign."

"...sigh, I know, I know, I led a terrorist group before or have you forgotten? Still you'd think there would be a base or something where we would have run into them..... Anyw-

"Sir! We found them!" said a messenger who hurried in.

Lelouch jumped off of his couch and Tohdoh ran over to the messenger, "Are you serious!" asked Tohdoh?

"Completely sir! Aerial scout planes have discovered a large mass of enemy forces in the area of Mt. Asahidake. General Oda is the closest to the mountain and is moving to engage. General Tohdoh, what are your orders?"

Tohdoh looked behind him at Lelouch who nodded and turned back to the messenger, "Inform the Captains, we march to Mt. Asahidake !"

"Understood sir! General Tohdoh, Captain Anderson, I shall take my leave." With that the messenger walked out.

After he was sure the messenger had left, Lelouch looked over at Tohdoh and asked, "What were you saying about it taking along time? Besides that since when was I a Captain? I thought I was supposed to be General Anderson..."

"Yes I know that's what you wanted but you had to be an exchange officer and no way Brittania would send a General. I'm sorry but your story had to be believable. Oh, and we got lucky. Anyway lets get moving Lelouch, or should I say Captain Anderson." said a now smiling Tohdoh.

**Paris, France**

"Prime Minister, it is time to pay up. As per your request the Germans sent Knight of Nine, Lucas Schmitt, to us for final testing of the Charlemagne class, Archangel prototypes. They are requesting the company of Archangels that we promised them. Also the king and parliament are in accord, they wish to know where this secret testing ground is, and the number of Archangels that you have constructed."

"Of course Jacques, I will be glad to inform them. Tell them that I will meet them in one hour in the parliament building. Oh and tell Captain Jean-Luc that it is time for him to go and save the Germans." said the Prime Minister.

"Yes sir!" said Jacques as he left the room.

Once Jacques had left the room, the Prime Minister's face broke into a grin, and he thought, 'So they want to know how many I have? They will soon regret asking that question. 'The Prime Minister turned on his monitor and up came the face of a man in a military uniform."Lord Alfred! What are your orders sir?"

"It is time Hollister. Today, all fall to us. Today, we claim the world!" said Lord Alfred.

"Understood sir! I will finish off these rebel scum, and then march on Brittania! For the glory of the empire I shall take the capitol from the hands of the weak administration that now rules there!" The communication ended and Alfred said, "Haha the fool, he will soon get what he deserves. As will all those who dared to betray our master." Standing up, Alfred walked over to the mirror above his wardrobe. He watched as his eyes changed from red to blue, his hair from black to blond, and his face change completely. As he watched this he thought 'Master, you knew this was coming. You knew that your time had come, and that your dynasty was to weak to hold the empire. That is why, before you passed on, you gave me this gift.... this power. I will not let you down master. I will rebuild the empire and make it stronger than ever, but to do that, I must sweep away the old. I shall temper this new world empire through the flame as a sword is through the forge. Only the strong will survive, the weak will have no place in my new world order. Not all men are equal and so only the strong deserve to survive.' Looking up at the ceiling he said, "That is what you taught us."

* * *

**So I hope you all enjoyed that. For those who would like to know, Gott mit uns or God with us is the motto of the German Empire and usually associated with the German military. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Also, as stated above, next chapter will have a lot of fighting in it. Hope you all will continue to be patient with me as i try to get it done. Anyway I hope all of you continue to read and review. Until next time, I leave you with this last piece of advice...... REVIEW! ^_^**


	11. Authors note

**Hey guys, sorry for how long this its been without an update. Unfortunately my english teacher decided to surprise us with a term paper with one week left of school. I was working on that all this last week and so I have not even gotten started on the ch. Don't worry though, school is out and I am planning to have the ch ready for you some time this week. Thanks for your patience and understanding.**


	12. Battles Around the Globe

**Hello everyone, I'm back! Srry, I had hoped to get this out sometime last week, but I just couldn't finish this in time. However it is done now. This ch has many battles and I must say i think it is one of my best. Oh by the way this is...... My first 10k ch! so all of you who wanted a longer ch, you just got it! I hope you all enjoy, and as always, I do not own Code Geass, I just own my plot and made up characters. Now lets get to those reviewers! (I have to warn you, there are a lot of them, Yeah!)**

**ShinobiGama- about the paring, something like that is really what probably is going to happen because Lelouch seems to care for both in the series and I want to stay true to that. and thanks for the encouragement.**

**(dont have a name for this guy) - Yes I know that they do get their memory back once the mission is complete, however there mission is not complete. They are to obey Lelouch in everything, but a Geassed commander is just about useless. Basically the geass is still in the back of their minds and can be reawakened at a word from lelouch, which is why he had to tell them they could have their free will back**

**recordman- lol thanks for that, I know I make a lot of mistakes, I try to fix everything before I post but a lot gets through. **

**jayley- lol yeah lelouch really did think he would die, which must of freaked him out once learning he was alive.**

**Pinfeathers- lol yeah, I didn't make the connection until after I posted it XD**

**Bloody Waterfalls- will try to, and you dont have to worry, he definitely will.**

**TsubasaSyaoforever- I'll try to keep that in mind, and will try to add some more description to it. Though i did complete in making it longer :)  
**

**A Midsummer Night's Dream- lol you got me haha just a mistype I suppose**

**Akira Stridder- Which one do you mean?**

**blackdeathmessenger- lol actually I only picked it because it sounded like a good name and was familiar for some reason. It wasn't until after your post that I made the connection. Guess I picked a good name for a Captain huh? lol**

**bob115- well you are about to find out :)**

**Osito13- thanks and I hope its as cool as you imagined. Also if you want to you should write a Code fanfic. Though I have to warn you, it gets to be a pain if you get writers block to get back started. Good luck with whatever you decide.**

* * *

**Southern Himalayan Mts**., **Chinese Flagship** _**Empress Tianzi**_.

"Master Xing-ke! the Indians are breaking through! We can't hold them back much longer, need immediate back up! Please respond!"

"We are hear General, what is your status? Which area is the break located in?" said Grand General

"Everywhere! The entire Himalayan line is faultering. All of my reserves are in and those blasted Indians still keep coming! I have lost contact with three of my seven Colonels, and two of my other ones have been cut off and surrounded. To make matters worse the air fleet that you have overhead has been kept in check by the Indians fleet. I haven't got any support from them. Sir The Himalayas will soon fall unless I get some back up real soon. I- Booooom............" (communication screen rocks and debris falls from the ceiling, General falls from sight.)

"General Liang! Are you still there General!? Please respond!"

"Cough cough cough, Yes sir I am still hear," said the General as he climbed to his feet, "Just had a close call thats all. That blasted Indian artillery has my base camps number. I'm moving my command team back sir. What are your orders sir? I suggest you get me some help if you don't want me to pull out of the mountains."

"You'll get your help General. Try to reconnect with your men. I will be there shortly."

" Wait! you can't be ser- Boooooom..................."(screen goes blank)

"Sir the line just died. They either hit his compound or his tower, either way it can't be good." said the communications officer. As he turned around he saw Xingke walking to the elavator shaft, "Sir what are you doing?"

"Order all tigers to make ready for battle and prepare Shen Hu. I will take the field myself." As the command crew started to protest Xingke simply said, "Captain, you have your orders, don't let me down." With that he pressed the down button and the elevator doors closed and took him to the knighmare launch bay.

As he landed in the launch bay, Xingke saw in front of him, his elite troops, all wearing the uniforms of the Tiger Squadron, orange with black stripes. This was his unit, each man had been handpicked for their superior skill and cleverness in a Knightmare Frame. Not only were these twenty men standing in front of him the elite of his forces, each one was completely loyal to him. Most had been with him since his attempted coup against the eunuchs. Some were even farther back. They all were ready to give their lives for Xingke. It was his personal squad, taking the field whenever he did to ensure his safety and wreak as much havoc on the enemy as possible He smiled at them and said, "My friends, it is time, mount your Tigers!"

"Sir!!" they all shouted, and ran to their Tiger frames. The Tigers were superior frames to the Akatsuki or Gan-Ru, the two main units of the chinese Knightmare corps. They had orange and black armor with a tiger face on their chests and their faces had a feral look. They were based on the Shen Hu in structure yet did not posess the raw power, being without the Baryon heavy cannon and replacing it with two smaller cannons in the eyes of the tiger head on the chest. Also, a loose energy shield could be activated around the body. They all had float drives like the Shen Hu. Xingke's lieutenants had two dual machine guns based on their shoulders. They all carried Shen Hu's short swords for hand to hand combat. The Shen Hu, the Divine Tiger, was the pack leader, the Alpha Male, where he led they would follow. Now once again, the Tigers were called upon to defend China. Only this time, it was a lot closer to home.

" Tigers! General Liang is in danger of being routed. Most of the reserves have been sent into the air to hold back the Indian fleet. We therefore will go to assist him. Should we fail, the Indian army will have forced us out of the mountains, and the next step they take will be on Imperial lands. We will not let that happen! I refuse to allow them to step foot on this land we call home. Now my friends are you with me!"

"Chen zun zhi! (I will follow your commands)"

"Very well. We launch! and remember we fight for our friends, our loved ones, and for our Empress!"

"Hurrah!" With that shout Shen Hu launched from the carrier bay, followed by his four lieutenants and the the rest of the pack. Once outside they turned south to the mountains. It took them ten minutes to arrive but when they did they saw the battle was in full swing.

Above the battle for the skies was fierce, yet the Chinese forces were still holding their own, it is the ground that needs his attention. They flew right into the mountains and immediately saw that the Chinese ground forces were outmatched and outnumbered. It was time to change that. "Zhou Bei, take your men and support the extreme left. Cao Quan, take yours and support the extreme right. Sun Yun, Guan Liao, you two are with me, in the middle. Everyone activate battle tactic, Tiger Roar!"

"Understood! Chen zun zhi!" The units moved to their positions and struck out at the enemy formations. All units began the Tiger Roar, the eyes of the tigers began to glow red as they turned on their mini particle cannons and began strafing the enemy forces from the air. The enemy was taken completely by surprise and many of the chinese gave shouts of joy upon seeing the Tigers. One commander rallied his men, saying, "Look my brothers! The Tigers have come to save us! We must show them that we didn't need their protection! Forward, and attack with all the force of a tsunami!" With that the Chinese forces fought back with renewed vigor.

Xingke activated the Baryon heavy cannon and blew away the Indian forces in the middle. The majority of the Indian ground troops began to break ranks and run once they saw the power of the Baryon. A brave squad broke rank and went to fight the Shen Hu, yet they were no match for him. He activated his electric darts and fired them at the oncoming Akatsuki Jikinsanshiyo, hitting it and impaling the commander. Xingke then swung the commander into one of his troops, destroying them both, while at the same time he launched his other dart into another Akatsuki, and sent a burst of energy into it's system, destroying it. By this time the final two members of this squad were upon Xingke, who flew up to gain distance and drew his sword.

The two Akatsuki came upon him, one from the front and one from the back. Xingke smiled and shouted, "Now Shen Hu! Let us show them our true power!" With that he rushed the one in front of him, and as he did so, the second Akatsuki charged in trying hit him from behind. Then the Shen Hu flew straight up into the air, did a flip, and before the Akatsukis could react, one was dismembered and the other got shot by a dart.

As the electricity pumped into the Akatsuki Xingke could not help but think that this is to easy. The Indian forces had routed almost immediately after the Tigers arrival, and even though they had devastated the front-line forces, it should not of been nearly enough to rout the entire Indian army.... A trap! "All units fall back! Its a trap!" The Tigers obeyed instantly and shot back towards the Chinese lines. However the rest of the army was not as fast, and all of a sudden fifteen Knightmare frames appeared in the area, launching radiation blasts and destroying many of the Chinese forces. Xingke got word from his wing commanders that there was another ten on each flank. They were grey, with two machine guns on their shoulders and radiation surge cannons in the hands. At the torso area, three of them had two blades, while the rest had Guren's knife. They all had propulsion systems and where hovering at the same level as the Tigers.

'So... Rakshata has been busy after all... I wonder how strong these are...' thought Xingke. "All remaining units, regroup at our defensive lines. We will push on once we have regrouped and reformed our formations. Tigers I am counting on you to hold them off. Together, we will show them that we are superior to anything they can muster!"

"Yes sir! We will show them our might!" said the tigers

Suddenly, the lead Knightmare of the Indian forces spoke, "So you are Xingke, former Commander in Chief of the Black Knights, current Commander of the Chinese military forces, and Captain of the Tiger squadron. It is a pleasure to meet you at last. I am Mohandas Katoch, Captain of the Indian special forces unit. It's a pity that we must face each other here, from what I've heard you are a good man, and a fine leader. Unfortunately, you have taken to the field and so I can't let you live."

With That the fifteen grey knightmares came at Xingke and his ten Tigers. "All Tigers, stay in groups and fight off the incoming frames, don't get separated, we don't know the power of these frames or their pilots."

"Yes sir!" With that the Tigers broke into two groups of five, and moved to do battle with these new frames. Three of these new frames went after the Shen Hu. Xinge and his Tigers were outnumbered, yet they were the best that the Chinese army had, and there weren't anymore units who could be called for reinforcements, thus they would stand their ground and fight. Shen Hu flew at his opponents, launching his darts at the two on the end. They both dodged and launched radiation blasts at Shen Hu. The third, Mohandas Katoch's Knightmare, drew his dual swords, and charged right at Shen Hu. Shen Hu pulled back his darts dodged the radiation blasts and drew his sword, just in time to block the first swing of Katoch's Knightmare. The Shen Hu launched his dart and used it as a shield against the second strike. The Shen Hu flew away to gain altitude and launched the Baryon Cannon. The three Indian frames launched their radiation blasts together, and the combined force began to push back the Baryon Cannon's beam.

Xingke could not believe it, these three were more powerful than even the Shen Hu! Rakshata had really done her homework, and now it looked like she had surpassed even her most temperamental creation, the Shen Hu.... 'No! I will not lose!' thought Xingke. Xingke flipped a switch to his right and then put in the password for the Shen Hu's operational system. 'Even if it cost me my life, I will defeat them,' he thought. He raised the power level of the Shen Hu from 40% to 50%! Immediately he felt the added strain on his body, and knew that he must finish this quickly.

He locked down the controls and flew out of the way of the radiation blasts, and then launched the Baryon Cannon again. This time the three could only hold there own against the Baryon Cannon, and finally the beams exploded. From the smoke came the Shen Hu, Flying faster than ever before, and once again he drew his short sword and came upon them. The first did not even have time to react as it was cut down. The second raised its knife in an effort to defend, but Xingke launched his darts instead, impaling the arm of the knightmare to its side and allowing for it to be easily dispatched. As the Shen Hu turned around to face the last one, he saw that Katoch was already upon him and only barely got his sword raised in time to fight him back.

Katoch shouted, "I will avenge my men Xingke! You surprised us with your speed but I will stop you now!" With that his swords came down upon Shen Hu and though Xingke was able to deflect he was beginning to feel a pain in his stomach. 'Not now!' he thought, 'Not when I am so close!' He broke away and launched both of the darts at Katoch. Katoch grapped both of them and shouted, "I have you now!" He activated his radiation waves on both of his arms while Xingke activated his electricity on Shen Hu. Xingke then shouted, "Your mine!" and rushed him with his short sword. Katoch had no where to go! If he stopped the radiation wave, then the electricity would get him, if he didn't stop then he would be cut down.

Yet right when it appeared that all hope was lost for Katoch, one of his men flew up, sliced the darts, and deflected Shen Hu's sword! Shen Hu was then surrounded by five of the Indian special forces Knightmare frames. Xingke blasted up to gain some room an then noticed on his screen that only 3 of his ten Tigers were alive and there were still eight Indian models! "You've lost Xingke! China falls today!" shouted Katoch and he with his four units came charging at the Shen Hu!

Xingke shouted, "I will not lose!" and activated the Baryon Cannon one last time. He also opened the operational system and raised the power level to 70%! The Baryon Cannon came down upon the five Knightmares like a raging fire coming to consume them. They all activated their Radiation blasts with both hands and shot it towards the Shen Hu. As the blasts connected, it was as if the entire area shook with the impact. It took everything Xingke had to keep his attack up, and finally it was to much. Xingke began coughing tremendously, and as blood splattered in his cockpit his knightmare moved, just a little bit. Yet it was enough, the ten blasts of radiation waves broke through his Baryon Cannons beam, and hit him. He was lucky that most of the energy had been used up battling his beam for supremacy, but his system was still fried.

The radiation waves had wracked his body horribly and he was nearing unconsciousness. The Shen Hu's systems began to fail and he began to plummet to the earth. As he fell, Xingke began to remember things, he remembered the end of Brittanian rule and the death of Lelouch vi Brittania. He remembered the beginning of the breakup of the United Federation of States, how the nations could not resolve basic trade and territorial disputes, and how nations began leaving almost immediately. He also remembered young Empress Tianzi. He remembered the few good days, those days where the Empress would come and meet with him and they could both get away from the paper work and advisors constantly needling at them.

He smiled and thought, 'Especially for her, with all of her advisors trying to convince her to take a consort from one of the leading families, or those who wanted her to marry one of the Mongolian or Korean princes. Ha, She is stronger than she believes, I would of went mad,' he thought. He also remembered those times when he had been able to sneak her out of the Forbidden City, and showed her the world. Though she was Empress now instead of just a puppet, her advisors always had large escorts for her wherever she went. He took her out into the world and showed her the nation that she called home and the people who called her Empress. Before those trips the only place she had ever seen outside her royal carriage were the Forbidden Cities in Louyang and Bejing. She was always so happy when he took her to new places.

Suddenly, Xingke's eyes snapped open, as he remembered his final memory with the empress. He was kneeling in the Imperial Throne room, and she had just announced his appointment as the Grand General of the Chinese forces. He had accepted and as he made to rise she whispered in his ear, "Come back to me Li, don't leave me alone." What had been his response? "I promise my lady, I will return to you," was what it was.

With that, a new found resolve engulfed him, and with only 50 feet before crashing on to the mountain, Xingke restarted his system. He activated his float drive and flipped Shen Hu over and landed on the mountain. He checked his systems and saw that he was operating at under 10% power and that all of his weapons were shut down, with the exception of his sword. He finally decided on a course of action, "To all field commanders, retreat. I repeat, retreat, fall back to defensive line delta omega." With that he launched himself out of the mountains. Yet he wasn't out of the fire yet.

"Where you going Xingke?" Asked a mocking Katoch. He was right on Shen Hu's tale! Even worse, Xingke had to be very carful how fast he reacted and what maneuvers to pull as he knew the next time his constitution failed he would go unconscious. Suddenly, he began coughing again, and he could not help but think, 'Could this truly be the end?' Yet right when it looked like Katoch would catch him he heard, "You got lucky Xingke! I'm low on energy. Thank what ever gods you hold dear, because they have given you an extra day. Next time we meet will be your last!"

With that Xingke let out a sigh, and returned to his Flagship. When he finally landed he saw that the fight had not gone well for his Tigers. of the twenty that he had at the start only seven were left. Of that, only two arrived unscathed. Only one of his lieutenants, Lt. Cao Quan remained.

"Sir, it was horrible! They outmaneuvered all of us. We only took out two on our side, and lost three, including Lt. Zhou Bei! Only Liu Ce and me were able to make it back."

"We fared a little better," said Cao Quan, coming to meet his captain and old friend, " we killed five of the ten we faced and only lost two, but we received a lot of support from the ground forces. They had held their positions in the beginning so they had not been hit as bad by the ambush as other units."

Looking at his men, and the deep sadness in all of their eyes, only hardened Xingke's resolve, and though he could feel the sickness coming upon him, he vowed to stay strong in front of his men, "My friends, we all lost men today. Only Zhang Shao, and Mao Wei survived the fight in the center with me. We killed seven of them, yet that is no victory. There is no telling how many of them are out there, and we are all that is left of the Tigers. Now my friends, we must prepare for the worst, They will surely come at us again, this time we must be ready. File your reports and get some sleep while you still can. Something tells me we will be needed really soon..."

With that the Tigers dispersed, and Xingke went to his room. Once arriving in the privacy of his room, he ran to his bathroom and began coughing terribly. He knew each battle cost him a little more time, and every little stress he put on his body only amplified the sickness, yet he could not abandon his men, his friends, his nation, or his Empress for his own sake. No he would rather die than let something happen to any of them. Yet, he prayed to his ancestors, "Please, I need more time." As if denying his request, another shutter wracked his body, and he began coughing up blood once again, and fell to floor as his knees gave way under his increasing stress level. He laid there, on the floor, completely exhausted, so much so that he could not even move. As the coughs subsided he slowly and quietly begged his ancestors, and any gods that would listen, "Please, just... just a l-l-little more time......." With that he fell into the merciful blackness of unconsciousness.

* * *

**Hennigsdorf, Germany**

"Knights five, and seven, take the right flank. Knights three, and six, take the left. Knights four and eight will command the center. Knights two and ten, take a regiment and flank them from the right. Do not let them break thorugh! I, Knight of One, Prince Wilhelm XII, will take overall control of this battle. Hear we stop the Danes advance!"

"Sir!" shouted all of the Knights.

The Danes had betrayed the western alliance, and now were less than a mile from Berlin. The Fortress of Hennigsdorf, is one of a group of fortress, surrounding the city of Berlin. Thus anyone attempting to take Berlin would first have to break through this fortress line. Henningdorf happened to be the first to make contact with the enemy. Wilhelm knew he needed to do some serious damage now, while all the Knights were together, because once the main force of the Danes arrived they would split and attack Schonwalde, and Hohen Neuendorf, and Falkensee. No, they had to stop them here! If they could just inflict some serious damage here, then the Danes would be forced to leave and regroup, which would give the Germans time to counter-attack.

"Conrad, leave your unit under command of Captain Bismark and strike the enemy from above. They have no arial units deployed thus we will have a huge advantage in this fight. We must make use of it.

"Yes sir!" With that, Conrad took off and blasted into the sky. Conrad laughed upon feeling the thrill of flying, his old Custom Panzer-Hummel having been land based. He then saw that he could see the entire battlefield from here and that he had a perfect vantage point from which to destroy the Danish forces. 'Thank you Brittania for having such disloyal scientists! The WEU would never of advanced as quickly without those blueprints that were sold to us,' thought Conrad.

He pulled out his Imperial Rifle (based on the VARIS Rifle) and fired destroying an entire column of Danish ground forces. Conrad could not believe how much more advanced this frame was compared to his old. Not only could it fly, but it had energy weapons, and even could engage in hand to hand combat! This truly showed how far behind the EU had been compared to Brittania. Now though, it worked to their advantage, as only Germany and France had gained the data as of yet. Meaning the Danes were far behind!

Conrad put up his Rifle and pulled out his energy sword. Now he would see how it felt to fight hand to hand. With that he swooped down upon the enemy forces. He was to fast for their Panzer-Hummels to shoot! He lashed out at them and struck down ten units in his first flight before ascending back into the air. The Danes didn't stand a chance! There was no need to call the French for help with the Danes only having Panzer-Hummels vs these new Kaiser class frames!

"Conrad! Don't get overconfident! We don't have the time to make you a new one if you total it. We have been given a great gift and opportunity with these frames. Don't get them destroyed by showing off."

"Understood sir! Will get back to business, sir." With that he disengaged his sword and put it up. Once again he pulled out his Rifle and let the Danes have it. He was easily destroying large amounts of the enemies and they could not even reach him at this height. "It appears that we got worried over nothing," said Conrad, "the Knights could of handled this army by ourselves."

"Conrad watch out!" shouted the Knight of One.

Just in time Conrad was able to dodge an Akatsuki's blade as it came down at him. "Wo! that was close. That will teach me to start acting cocky."

"It had better Conrad... It appears that the Poles sent some support to the Danes, and to think I was just starting to think that this fight was over."

Fifteen Akatsukis had arrived in support of the Danes, all equipped with air glide wings. What really scared Conrad however was what was behind them.... A UFN Aerial Carrier! It was about half the size of the Ikaruga, yet it was still the largest aircraft the German army had ever seen. Even when fighting Brittania they never faced an aircraft like this.

Conrad snapped out of his awe filled trance in time to dodge the Akatsuki's sword once again. Conrad flew away, put up his rifle, and drew his sword. By this time 4 other Akatsuki's had arrived and began attacking Conrad and his Knightmare. Conrad used the superior speed and maneuverability of his Knightmare to get out of the way and then came back around and struck at them. At first Conrad could just barely hold his own against the pilots, even with his Knightmare's advantage compared to theirs, but it did not take long for him to become proficient at hand-hand combat and once that happened he was defeating them with ease.

"Take this!" he shouted as he slashed through an Akatsuki. 'Only two more to go,' he thought. Just then he was suddenly surrounded by the other ten Akatsukis. 'Great...,' he thought, 'I was just starting to get good at this and now I'm surrounded. Oh well, I'll just let them have it!' Conrad shot towards one of them and as he did so he saw those behind, above and below charge at him, while the one in front of him raised its sword for defense. Instead of engaging that one, Conrad turned, launched his Slash Harkons at one, and then threw it into two more. He then flew through the whole created by these three's destruction. After he escaped he saw that the Knights with the exception of the Knight of One had taken to the air and were battling the Carrier and its units that continuously flew or jumped off. The ground units immediately began attacking the fortifications at Henningsdorf, while the arial units engaged the Knights. The Knight of One had taken to the field and was battling the ground forces along with the Panzer-Hummels of the German army.

"So I guess I'm on my own for now," said Conrad as the nine remaining Akatsukis came at him. Conrad flew out to meet them, and launched both of his Slash Harkons at the two leading Akatsukis, and pulled them towards him. When they got back to him he slashed them with his sword, retracted the Slash Harkons and engaged the next group of Akatsukis. He slashed through the first one and then deflected a slash from the next, and slid down the sword and flipped his sword over to cleave through another Akatsuki, and then stabbed the original one while still facing the other four. The four remaining Akatsukis took up a square formation around Conrad. They all charged at the same time.

Conrad smiled and simply said, "When will they learn, doing the same old tactics will not work," He launched his Slash Harkens at the two on the sides, then spun his arms and crashed them into the other two. "And that takes care of that." said Conrad. He was about to engage the Danish forces when he heard over the radio, "We need help here!"

The Polish carrier had deployed all of its units and most had been destroyed yet the ships defenses were still fierce and it was being used as a base for damaged and endangered Knightmare frames to land and escape their pursuers. With the Knights being the only flying units in the German Army they were taking a beating from these guns.

"Conrad, Benjamin, take down that ship! Polish troops have landed at other fortresses, Knights three and five, go and assist Fortress Hohen Neuendorf, Knights four and six, go to Fortress Panketal, and Knights eight, and ten, go to Fortress Ahrensfelde. I will hold the line here at Hennigsdorf." With that the Knights split up to hold the line in other areas.

The Polish carrier began following after the departing Knights, Conrad pulled out his rifle and said, "No you don't! Your mine!" He took two shots at the ship's bridge, and flew towards the carrier. The Knight of two and seven both struck the ship hard, sending a constant barrage at the carrier. While Conrad fired off bursts with his Imperial Rifle, Benjamin fired his Vernichtung Cannon. The Ship began to turn around to face this threat, yet it was to slow to get a lock on the two Knightmare frames. Twenty-seven Knightmare frames launched from the carrier, most heavily damaged. They were easy prey for the two Knights of Berlin, yet they did their job. As they distracted the Knights, the carrier ship started heading east, back to Poland.

Conrad started to chase it when he heard over the communicator, "Stop Conrad! Let them run. We've already notified the Knights at the other fortresses, and our army in Poland to shoot it down if possible. You need to come in and recharge. Your down to 10% energy wise, and we need you to get back here anyway, the Danes are still coming and are pressing Prince Wilhelm hard."

Conrad stopped his Knightmare, looked at his power supply, saw that command was right and just glared at the Polish carrier running away. They had damaged it a lot, and had destroyed most of the Knightmares on board, yet this wasn't a victory over the Poles. This was barely a victory over the Danes. Though none of the Knights had fallen, the fortresses were all damaged and would have to be repaired now with the threat of polish arial forces to deal with. Conrad doubted they would get the go ahead to counter-attack the Danes with this new information. Conrad took one final shot at the carrier, watched it hit but do minimal damage, then started back to Berlin to be recharged.

Suddenly, descending from the clouds over Berlin appeared a full sized UFN carrier ship! Conrad could not believe it, the little carrier had been a distraction, a way to weaken the German Forces. Now the main battle would start, and Conrad had almost no power left! He punched his engines to the max, trying to reach the nearest base to get recharged. He landed at Hennigsdorf and jumped out and shouted to the ground crew, "Get me up to 50% power and rearm my machine gun turrets! On second thought, don't worry about the machine gun, just get me enough power to fight." As he jumped down, he watched as the carrier dropped off many Knightmares, both Arial and land based, around Berlin, and as its gun began pounding the shield that had rose around the capitol. The cities defense systems activated as well, as auto-turrets began firing and Knightmare frames launched.

The carrier fired its large cannon, and began pounding the city. It was only a matter of time before it fell. Prince Wilhelm and any other Knights with energy left had already gone to defend the city. The vast majority however needed to recharge, which left them forced to watch as their beloved city was shot to pieces.

Suddenly to the west, their was a glint of light off of something in the sky. Then suddenly their engines were fired and they arrived over Berlin. It was a group of twenty-five Knightmare Frames, white and gold frames, with a sword on their back and Angelic energy wings. The frames took up positions behind and below the carrier, and then ten of the units arms changed. The hands were pulled back into the arms, the sides of the arms then lifted up and reorganized themselves in the shape of cannons. From these cannons, shot out a bluish white light straight at the carrier. The carrier was completely destroyed by the blast, and after the ship exploded, the other fifteen units flew after all of the Knightmare frames that had escaped.

Suddenly their was a message over the radio. Conrad ran up to his Knightmare and listened in. He heard, "I am Captain Jean-Luc Bruel of his majesty, the King of France's Elite Knightmare Corp. We have come to pay a debt that we owed to our dear friends the Germans, and to destroy the traitors to the EU. All German units should stand down until this is cleared so as to not get in our way. Thank you and peace to you brothers."

Conrad could not believe his eyes and ears! First the sheer power of these French units was amazing! They blew away an entire carrier, shield and all, in ten seconds! Then they effectively destroyed the remaining enemy forces! The Poles had been destroyed and the Danes were routed!

What Conrad could not believe even more though, was the arrogance and audacity of the French forces to their allies. Whether intentionally or not he had insulted German honor to the very highest level! Telling the German forces to lay low in their own capitol! This kind of talk was unheard of amongst supposed friends and allies. 'I only hope that this doesn't form a schism in the alliance,' thought Conrad as he watched the last of the Polish forces break and run under the French assault.

**Imperial Palace, New Pendragon**

".... furthermore I plan on sending diplomatic missions to these nations in the hope of gaining peace for this world." said Empress Nunnally. She had been giving a speech in the throne room of the Imperial Palace to many governors and elected officials of the empire, outlining her plan to bring forth world peace. Many news media members were present, video taping, taking pictures, and asking questions. The Audience gave her a round of applause before she continued, " These diplomates that will be sent will have the job to bring an end to these conflicts and hopefully will allow for the reformation of the UFN. Should this happen I-"

BANG! A gunshot went off and the crowd broke into a stampede for the doors. Zero ran in front of Nunnally and the guards surrounded her. Up on the balcony was a dead man, with a knife through his heart and his rifle, which looked a lot like a camera, had fallen to the ground. Sayoko was on the opposite side of the balcony and jumped down. Upon landing she said, "My apologizes majesty for not stopping him from firing, but he was a sneaky one and I only realized that it was a gun a few seconds ago as he loaded it. He must of been a professional, because he only put in one shot which gave me almost no time to stop him... I am sorry my lady, I failed in preventing him from disturbing your meeting."

"Not at all Sayoko, you saved the Empress's life," said Zero, "none of us even saw him, it was a good thing you were there. You did an excellent job."

"Yes you did Sayoko, I thank you from the bottom of my heart," said Nunnally.

"Thank you your majesty. It is always a pleasure to serve you." said Sayoko.

Suddenly over the projector, loud speakers, an TV stations, came a voice, and a face appeared on the screen. "My friends, implement plan Snake Bite." said the figure on the screen.

"What could that mean," asked Sayoko. Suddenly Sayoko threw her throwing knives at two of the guards, killing them both with knives through the neck!

Zero raised his gun at Sayoko and said, "What is the meaning of this!"

"You fool! They were going to kill her! Watch out!" the last part Sayoko shouted as the main door was blasted down, and machine gun fir ripped through the room. Schneizel and Zero moved behind a pillar and Sayoko, jumped on top of Nunally, flipping over her wheelchair which was effective cover, and took the shots. Zero pulled out a pistol and began firing at the troops who began to stream into the hall, while Schneizel began calling for support. Of the loyal guards that were left, one had been shot dead as soon as the door broke down, while the other two were behind a pillar firing their automatic weapons.

Sayoko held Nunnally tight as bullets flew through the air at them. Nunnally meanwhile could not believe this. She recognized the voice over the projector as that of General Hollister, yet how could Hollister have come up with so much support, while fighting the rebels?

The voice came back over the radio and this time Hollister's face could be seen clearly over the projector and TV screens, "My friends, fellow Britannians, my brothers, I call on all of you to bring power back to Britannia! Tear down this weak administration under Empress Nunnally, and restore the Empire to its rightful place as the super power of the world! The world is at war, they are split everywhere! Now is the time to take back what is ours! My brothers, surely you must see that we have been stifled by this Empress? We have not been allowed to reach our full potential! We must strive to do so my friends, and the only way to do that, is to recapture the spirit of the Empire! All Hail Britannia! All Hail Britannia! All Hail Britannia!"

As the General continued his speech and shouts of all hail britannia, the remaining areas of the empire fell into civil war. The fight was between those who supported the Empress, and those who wanted to see her deposed. Yet back in the Imperial Palace Nunnally was still under fire. Zero and the guards had killed many of the traitorous troops, yet more kept storming in. The guards were running out of ammo, and so was Zero. However, for some reason the troops stopped pouring in and actually retreated. Zero heard the sounds of gunfire from the hallway. Schneizel exclaimed, "General Hector has arrived. He pledges his unending support for the Empress and has vowed to keep her save. "

Suddenly the door to the side of the room opened up and a man said, "Quickly Empress, we haven't much time." Schneizel ran up to the man, and clasping his hand said, "You are quite the sight for sore eyes my friend, I thought for sure we were dead, until I was able to reach you over the radio."

"Ha well just remember that I won't always be around to save you Schneizel." The man in question was General Hector, an older general who had led Britannian forces in both the first and second Pacific Wars. He had been one of Schneizel's military instructors when both had been younger, and had advised him often in the war with the EU. Though he looked younger than the sixty years that he was, you could tell by looking into his blue eyes and scarred face that age had taken a toll on this old warrior. His brown hair was starting to show spots of grey, and his days of piloting Knightmare frames and taking to the field himself were over. Yet he was still a valuable commander and he was widely respected throughout the military high command.

"Oh well, enough time wasted where is the Empress? We need to get her out of the city now. Hollister has convinced at least half of the army to join him, if not more, and he will gain support from many of the disgraced nobles, hurry now we must go." That last being directed at Zero, Sayoko, and Nunnally who had just been set up in her wheelchair.

Zero began pushing it and as she went by Nunnally said, "Thank you General for your loyalty."

"Not at all your highness, it is the least I can do for an Empress who finally let me rest, even if it was only for a year." said a smiling Hector. Together the small party ran down the hallway, and into the courtyard, where a Logres class Battleship was hovering above them. "Now quickly your Highness get inside the shuttle." Once inside, the shuttle took off and landed in the docking bay of the King Arthur. The General walked outside, pushed a button on the wall and said, "We are in Erik, call back the boys and get us out of here."

"Sir, yes sir!" said the bridge officer and issued the orders to the bridge staff.

"Where are we going General?" asked Zero.

"To my base of operations at Portland. Once their we can find out how many of the troops have stayed loyal to you and if we can fight them."

"And what if we can't?" asked Nunnally.

"Then I would suggest going into exile my lady. Indefinitely." said the General as he walked out of the hanger bay.

**Paris, France**

Prime Minister Michel Chaban walked into the Parliament building, with a regal stride, as he approached King Louis Napoleon. No one else would ever of shown this much disrespect to king and country by walking in late, unannounced and without at least introducing oneself. The room got deathly quite, so much so that you could hear every step that the Prime Minister took on his way to the center of the assembly. As he stepped into the center of the Parliament building, all eyes were upon him, most glaring at this man who acted like he was above the King and Parliament, yet others stared at wonder at this man who had so much confidence that he would do something like this, if anyone else did this they would be expelled from Parliament.

The Prime Minister walked directly into the center of the room, where a large circle was placed in front of the king. This place was for the speeches and discussions that were given in Parliament so often. The Prime Minister kneeled in the center of the circle, bowed his head for a second, then raised it and looking at the king said, "My apologizes, for being late."

As if those five words had opened the flood gates, the gathered assembly exploded with shouts and discussions. The Prime Minister and the king were the only ones who didn't say anything, and they stared at each other as if to see who would break eye contact first. Though only twenty-five, and being king for less than two years, he had quickly learned that even though it seemed like no one was watching, in reality everyone of the senators were paying attention to this silent duel. Should he lose, the Prime Minister would gain support from many in the parliament, who would see him as weak. He would not lose, under any circumstances. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Prime Minister looked away, and the king, smiling rose and said, "Quite!"in a commanding voice.

With that, all conversation in the room stopped. The king then said, "Michel, you are here before us today to answer some questions concerning the Knightmare Frame, Archangel prototype. We have received reports that twenty-five were sent to assist the Germans, and that is fine and good, but another fifteen have been reported on the Italian front and another thirty on the African continent. So we must ask, how many of these 'prototypes' did you make?"

"Well if you must know, I created two prototypes. The rest are the perfected model." stated the Prime Minister.

A gasp of shock echoed through the parliament building. They had never agreed to putting money and time into the mass production of these models. They had yet to even see one in action or the details of its construction. He had gone around everyone's back, even the king, which you could tell by the surprise on the kigns face, as he said, "You mass-produced them without permission?! That is a series breach of protocol Michel, a series offense in a time of war."

"Perhaps but in war some things must be down in secret." stated the Prime Minister. He seemed to have an air of confidence surrounding him, as if anything he did was destined to succeed.

This air of confidence seemed to assure the king and he nodded and said, "Very well, I can accept that, but how many of these have you created?"

"Enough, I created enough for their purpose." said the Prime Minister.

"What is their pur-" started the king, yet all of a sudden the Parliament building was rocked by gunfire! "What is going on here!" shouted the king. From out side came a voice from a Knightmare, it said, " Your time has come Napoleon. The end of your dynasty is here!"

The Prime Minister pulled out his gun, and pointed it at the king and the entire senate held their breath. In ran the four guards from the outside. The King sat there for a second in astonishment, then smiling said, "You will not get away with it Michel. the guards are already here, if you shoot me you forfeit your own life. Put the gun down."

"Perhaps, or perhaps they are with me." said the Prime Minister. He snapped his fingers, and the guards began firing at the senators in the room. The senators stampeded to the doors, which they found were locked, and so great was the hurry to get out, that they could not bust it down, instead running into each other as they tried to find cover from the hail of bullets being rained down upon them.

The King watched in horror, but then his mind was snatched back to his own situation, when he heard his traitorous Prime Minister speak, "Oh and by the way, my name isn't Michel. It's Alfred, Lord Alfred." With that he pulled the trigger twice. The kick tried to stand to get out of the way, yet the first bullet hit him square in the chest, while the second went right through his neck. The king fell back into his chair, gasping for breath. Alfred walked up to him and looked at the king and smiled at him saying, "It is not such a bad fate as all that, you do not live long enough to see your family die, your nation fall, your family suffer. No it is much better this way I think. Oh and about those Knightmares, don't worry, I will take care of them. They will regret the day they betrayed you, this I promise you."

The king looked at Alfred confused at why he would say that, but then Alfred put the gun to his head. He tried to grab it away with his right hand, while his left hand still held his throat. Alfred in turn just grabbed the hand and once again smiled at the king, and said, "Don't worry, its all taken care of. You can rest in peace, knowing that your family, friends, and people will soon be joining you in the afterlife." With that he pulled the trigger and killed the king. Alfred turned and saw that two of the four guards he had bribed had been killed by the stampeding senators, but they had done their job, all of the senators, and representatives were dead. The other two looked at him awaiting orders.

Alfred walked up to them and said, "Good job, you both did excellent work." As they opened their mouth to say thank you, He roundhouse kicked the first one, then on his turn shot the other one, in between the eyes. He walked over to the one he had kicked who was starting to get up. Alfred kicked him back down, and put his foot on his throat.

The guard pushed up on the foot to try to get some oxygen and said, "Wh-why!"

Alfred pushed down harder and said, "Why what? Why did I attack you or why did I leave you alive? To the first one it is because I hate the French, I hate them with every fiber of my body. To the second, it is because I wanted somebody to gloat to."

"B-b-but you are French," said the guard.

"Ha, no I am not, I am Britannian!" With that Alfreds eyes glowed red, his hair changed from blond to black and his face and body changed. "Hahaha do you see me know?"

"Who-- What are you!" shouted the guard.

"Who am I? What Am I? Ha, I am a Britannian! That in itself makes me superior to you. Yet I am also of Nobel Blood, making you thrice the bug under my shoe, and I've finally decided to crush you." with that he shot the guard in the head. After that, Alfred walked to the large double doors that he had only came from a few minutes ago. He pressed a radio transmitter on his collar and said, "Captain, eliminate the pests."

Over the radio he heard, "Understood sir!" and the sound of Knightmare Frames launching off. As he reached the double doors he heard the sound of explosions in the city streets outside. He pushed open the door and saw the last of the Panzer-Hummels destroyed. Down came his creations, the Archangels. They landed on one knee in front of him, twenty in all. Behind them was the wreckage of fifty Panzer-Hummels. The leader of the group then said, "What are your commands Lord Alfred?" Alfred smiled and laughed hysterically.

**Two hours later**

"My people! Today you saw something terrible. Colonel Petain, commander of the Paris guards, betrayed us. His forces stormed the Parliament building killing the vast majority of the Parliament. I, as King Louis Napoleon of France, wish to personally thank Captain Alexandre Briand for his timely rescue without which, myself, Prime Minister Michel, and those few representatives who made it, would not have survived. As such, I will be promoting Captain Briand to the rank of Colonel at a ceremony tomorrow. Also I will be presenting him with the Legion d' Honneur at the rank of Officer. Once again, I assure you my people I am well and we will move past this. We have a war to fight my brothers and as always France will prevail! I ask that the Grand Armee continue its quest of peace in Europe, and that It continue with its excellent show of valor and discipline in the face of such untrustworthy enemies. It is a testament to our forces that the enemy would try to invoke a coup right at the time when our friends need us the most! This shows their fear of us, and my people, we will make them fear us even more after this dishonorable attack. Thank you my people."

As the cameras turned off and King Napoleon walked out of the room he began to laugh hysterically and his body began to change. Once again, he was Lord Alfred of Britannia.

* * *

**Mt. Asahidake, Hokkaido, Japan**.

"What do you mean I have to act like an advisor!" exclaimed a furious Lelouch.

"I mean just like I said, you can not be giving orders to me in front of my commanders. Phrase your orders as suggestions." stated Tohdoh.

"That will take to long. Just give me command on the suggestion of the Britannian army."

"Hahaha even the new Britannian army wouldn't put a nineteen year old in charge of an attack of this magnitude. We have four armies here, plus the Elite Strike Force. My commanders would never accept it."

"Then just let me Geass them, they will forget they ever saw me."

"I'd prefer if you didn't. Besides that wouldn't help, as the majority of the soldiers are made up of former Black Knights, meaning they would recognize your voice and command patterns." Seeing that Lelouch was going to protest more he said, "And the Elite Strike Force is led by... Gino Weinberg"

"Your serious?....Why in the world did you pick him! He is a Knight of Rounds! " asked an astonished Lelouch, "When you had Kallen right their, a national hero who can stand up to any Knight of Rounds member, why would you pick Gino?"

"I offered it to Kallen first, she refused. She told me she didn't want to fight anymore. So mighty leader, who would you of suggested? Chiba? She is the only remaining member of the Four Holy Swords, yet she was pregnant at the time of the reformation of the Japanese army. Tamaki? We all know he would make a terrible captain, let alone the captain of the Elite Strike Force. The majority of my soldiers are all average at best, I couldn't put them in charge of a company, let alone an elite force. Gino offered and I took him up on it."

"Yet can we trust him? He is a Knight of Britannia?"

"I could ask you the same question, how can we, the Japanese trust a Britannian prince, scratch that, the former Emperor of Britannia." stated Tohdoh

"Tohdoh, we've been through that remember? You were the one that convinced Ohgi to trust me."

"That is my point Lelouch, if we are to trust you, shouldn't you have a little faith in Gino? He has cut his ties to Britannia, much as you have. Though I must say he would not be to happy to see you, he has been a loyal Japanese soldier. Which brings us back to the original argument, you can not have direct command of the units." said Tohdoh.

".... Very well, but I want command of Kallen's unit.

"Kallen doesn't have a unit Lelouch, we aren't a terrorist group anymore. We can't just put anyone on the battlefield."

"And since when was I just anybody? asked Kallen as she walked in with her piloting suit on.

"Kallen, you know what I meant. You are not a part of the army, thus I can not allow you to take the field."

"Oh really?" said a threatening Kallen, daring Tohdoh to say that again

"Yes really." said Tohdoh, holding his ground against the fire burning in Kallen's blue eyes.

Lelouch suddenly came up and said, "Ok break it up you two. I have a solution to all of our problems. Tohdoh, you sill want to be in command of your troops, understandable. Kallen you want to be able to fight, also understandable. And me, I thought the whole reason I came here for was to lead. However we can't always get what you want, so here is what we can do. Tohdoh, you will have command over the army with me as your "advisor", Kallen will stay back and be the ace in the hole, much like Suzaku was the many times we fought Britannia together, and I will have personal command of her unit activities. Everyone gets a little bit of what they want, Tohdoh you get your army, Kallen you get to fight, and I get to lead. And before either of you object, I must remind you that we don't have time to argue. General Oda has begun moving his men into position Tohdoh, so shouldn't we be getting on the _Edo_?"

"Very well, I suppose that will work," said Tohdoh. The three went into Tohdoh's transport, and ten minutes later had landed on the _Edo_, the Flagship of Japanese forces.

Upon arriving, Lelouch threw Tohdoh an earpiece, and said "This is how we will stay in touch. I need to talk to Kallen about 'That'."

"Oh ok," said a smiling Tohdoh, " Hanger bay four." turning to look at Kallen he said, "We've got a surprise for you Kallen."

Kallen stood their confused by the smiles the two commanders were giving her, and as Tohdoh turned around and walked out one set of doors Lelouch took her hand and went out another. Kallen had no idea what this could be but obviously it must be something they thought she would like. Then she remembered what Lelouch had said, 'That'. He had put such an emphasis on that one word. What could he have meant by That? Her mind wandered, thinking what 'That' could be, she came up with quite a few possibilities, and as they walked into the darkened hanger bay a few other possibilities came to her that made her blush, "Lelouch what is thi-"

"Just wait, you'll see in a second," he said, interrupting her. Suddenly he flipped the lights and there..............................

Was the Guren! Completely rebuilt and ready to fly. Kallen stared in awe at her Knightmare, she had thought to never see Guren again. She could barely believe her eyes! She turned to Lelouch and asked, "Is this for real?"

Lelouch smiled at her, nodded and said, "So i guess you like your surprise?" For an answer she hugged Lelouch and said "Thank you!" she let go and ran over to the Guren. She pulled out the key she always cared with her, looked down at Lelouch for confirmation, who nodded, and she opened the hatch. She opened it and got in to check the controls.

Lelouch said, "Next time you see Tohdoh and Ohgi you should thank them. They got it rebuilt for you in the hope that one day you would come back to the Black Knights."

"I certainly will thank them. So when do I fly?" she asked after checking her systems, and jumping down to be with Lelouch.

"Not for a while yet, Tohdoh may have this under control but I doubt it. These terrorist are clever and obviously have the backing of someone with money. I don't think even Gino will be able to-,"

"Wait what does Gino have to do with this?" Kallen asked.

"What, did you miss that entire discussion me and Tohdoh had?" asked an amazed Lelouch.

"I guess so," said Kallen

"Well I guess you should probably know, Gino is the head of Tohdoh's Elite Strike Force."

"What! Your serious?" asked an incredulous Kallen

"Yep I was the same way when I found out." said Lelouch.

As Lelouch began explaining how that happened, Tohdoh had finally made it to the bridge. He sat in his command chair, and thought for a second, 'Yes Lelouch, you are beginning to see what you have cost me, General Katase, Kusakabe, Kosetsu, Ryoga, and even Shogo. That is only those that I was close to. That does not count for all those you killed at the Special Administrative Region. I will serve you Lelouch, as long as you continue to fight for Japan,' His thoughts became increasingly darker, and his face turned into a scowl, 'but you have cost me much and should you use us again as pawns, than so help me by all that is holy, Geass or no Geass I will kill you Lelouch, I will."

* * *

**Well, thats that. I hope you all enjoyed this ch. I had wanted to add the battle of Mt. Asahidake to this ch, but like I said above I was already over 10k words. Besides it gives you all something to look forward to. Also for you CC and Jerimiah fans, I will let you know that they are safe and will be reappearing in the story shortly. I meant to have a part in here about them but as stated many times before I already had plenty to post. **

**Anyway, Hope you all enjoyed and will review. Remember, Questions, comments, and constructive criticism are always welcome. And as always, Review! See you next time!**


	13. Battle of Mt Asahidake Part 1

**Hello everybody! I am back. I know its been a long time since I've updated and I'm sorry about that. My brother has been deployed to Iraq and it just wrecked my inspiration for writing. Well I'm sure he will be ok so anyway it was long past time to get back to writing. I hope you guys will stick with me as I try to get back into a writing schedule. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the ch. Now for a shout out to my reviewers!**

**_Shadow Typhoon-_ oh no! sorry but I needed some nation to betray and Denmark seemed like a good one to do it. Don't worry though, as you've seen betrayal is not uncommon in this story and I highly doubt Denmark will be the last nation to betray the side it originally joined.**

**_darkfinder_- well here is the update**

**_OBSERVER01_- yes actually he will be getting a new knightmare frame at some point.**

**_Brendan Aurabolt_- thank you that is a huge compliment**

**_lilyrose_- I am glad that you like it. I know I'm not the best editor but its nice to know you like my ideas. And to answer your question, the Chinese lost a battle, a big battle maybe, but only a battle, the war goes on.**

**_012436597283526005462802605254_- glad you like it. and I'm sure you'll do great with your stroy**

**_rcuellar_- Don't worry, I don't take it as rudeness though to answer your question no I did not forget that Lelouch is immortal, but Tohdoh does not know that. Remember he only knows about Geass not the code. Also thanks for reminding me about Cornelia, she should be appearing soon.**

**_recordman_- I am glad you liked it. No CC can not use her geass. Lelouch has his geass because he got his geass from CC and his code from his father, therefore he still has a contract with CC. CC however fulfilled her contract and got the code from the woman who gave her geass. Sorry thats what I'm working with. However Lelouch or CC may bestow geass to some people at some point in this story**

**_jayley_- nope wouldnt really matter, and yes assassinations happened a lot last ch and will be happening at different points through the story.**

**_hugglestheknowitall_- lol yes gino will be in this ch. **

**_ShinobiGama- _ I'm glad you like it, an you know your supposed to leave them wanting more ;)**

**Thanks guys for the reviews and keep them coming! so anyway hope you like the ch, and I will try to get back into my schedule of writing faster. Anyway let the story... Begin!**

* * *

_**Tokyo, Japan**_

Ohgi turned away from the crowd and walked off the stage. He had been giving a speech for thirty-nine minutes and had answered questions for another twenty minutes after that. The most asked about topic today had been the governments decision to deploy the army to Hokkaido. Obviously the people wanted to know what Tohdoh's plans were concerning Hokkaido and for how long their sons and daughters would be gone. They acted like Hokkaido was half a world away, not just a few miles off the coast. As he walked back into the government offices he was so thankful that it was over. It was always hard to tell a mother that her son had to go off to war to protect others, yet it must be done, and he was the one who had to hear their cries and shouts of anger at their childs deployment.

Yet overall it had been a good day, Tohdoh had called and reported that they were preparing to engage the terrorist, and with any luck the troops would be home soon and he would be free of the press of a military operation, and who knows, maybe even get a boost to his popularity if it succeeds without to many casualties. He was only useful to Lelouch if he kept his popularity up and had the people behind him. He didn't want to think about what Lelouch would do if he was no longer useful.

As he walked into his office he noticed that he was not alone. In fact there were two people in the room besides himself, and they happened to be two of his least favorite visitors. One, a man, and Ohgi used the term man loosely as his guest was more machine than human being, was wearing a white uniform. He was starring out the third story window of Ohgi's office behind his desk.

The second person in the room was a lovely young woman with green hair, wearing black, and holding a cheese-kun plush toy. Though Ohgi would usually not object to finding a beautiful young woman in his office he knew this one all to well. She was probably even more dangerous than the man, and that was saying something. At the moment however she was laying on the couch starring off into space.

Without even turning towards him the man at the window said, "You did well Ohgi, a very passionate speech without even a hint to master Lelouch's existence. He will be happy to know that you are not trying to find loopholes around the geass as of yet. Even so, I must reemphasize the penalty should you attempt to reveal his whereabouts is death, and so I highly recommend you continue as you have been doing." Turning the man stared at Ohgi and without a hint of emotion in his eyes or in his voice said, "I know geass all to well Ohgi and I will notice when your mouth halts you from saying the words you mean to say, and have no doubt that I will follow through with the sentence set upon you if you attempt it."

Ohgi stared at the man in front of him, holding eye contact, never blinking, the two seemingly caught in a soundless duel. Finally Ohgi replied, "Well, then I suppose I had better not let you see me, had I Jerimiah?" Jerimiah's one human eye twitched at that and suddenly he jumped over the desk, his right arm blade sliding out. He came right at Ohgi who didn't even have time to react. 'So fast!' thought Ohgi as Jerimiah was now in front of him, arm back, and in a thrusting motion came at Ohgi! To Ohgi it all happened in slow motion. Jerimiah's arm began to come forward at an extremely slow speed, yet no matter how slow Jerimiah was Ohgi was ten times slower. Ohgi attempted to raise his arms from his sides, yet he knew it was to late. His mind worked at a hundred miles an hour, seeing his life flash before his eyes, ending with a still picture of Villetta holding his daughter and he could only think, 'I am so sorry...'

"Stop!" said a commanding voice from across the room, breaking Ohgi out of his stupor.

Jerimiah's arm stopped as if it had hit a brick wall, the blade a mere centimeter from Ohgi's neck. Jerimiah turned his head, while Ohgi's eyes drifted over to where CC laid on the couch not even looking at them. Jerimiah calmly said, "He has freely admitted that he will continue to try to find a loophole around the Geass. The Punishment for attempting that is death. You-"

"You know as well as I that it was posturing, he expected you to have more control of yourself.. so did I Jerimiah, do I need to talk to Lelouch about removing you from here?

Jerimiah's blade slid back into place and he straightened and said, "You know my preference, if it was up to me I would be at the front with master Lelouch. However, since he has assigned me this duty I mean to obey and follow through with the commands I have been given. Why should I wait for me to see him speak around the geass when he has bluntly said that he will do so? I-

CC interupted saying, "Ohgi leave us." Ohgi quickly left the room thanking any gods that may be out there for having CC in there on his side. He quickly left the building and went home, vowing to give Villeta a kiss when he got there and to hold his baby girl for as long as possible

Meanwhile, back in the office CC had once again begun to speak, "Jerimiah, you know the reason you want to kill Ohgi is the same reason why you joined Lelouch. Loyalty. That one word means so much to you doesn't it? You have always been loyal to whoever you considered your master, whether that be Empress Marianne or Lelouch, you have always held loyalty above all else. This is why you have no sympathy for traitors. You had no sympathy for General Bartley when you believed he had betrayed Clovis, you wanted nothing more than to prove your loyalty after Lelouch used his Geass on you, and now you have no sympathy and in fact a large amount of disdain for Ohgi who betrayed Lelouch. You have kept him on a short leash ever since we were left to watch him. You need to remember that Lelouch still has a use for him Jerimiah and that if you were to kill him it would just hurt Lelouch's plans. Follow your orders Jerimiah and should he try to break the geass go ahead and kill him, but remember Lelouch has given him six months to prove his usefulness. It would be better for everyone if he was given those six months."

Sitting up she finally looked at Jerimiah. She had an extremely bored expression on her face. Her eyes looked at him for a long time and finally she said, "I now see why Lelouch left me here to watch you two, you would look for any chance to get rid of Ohgi, and the poor man can't even fight back due to the geass that was placed on him. Yes I am increasingly thinking that I was set to watch _you_ Jerimiah more than Ohgi. You are looking for an excuse to kill him. Remember that loyalty you hold so dear and carry out your orders. Don't assume that you know them better than the one who gave them to you."

With that CC got up and left the room, leaving Jerimiah to his thoughts. He watched her leave, and once the door was closed he lowered himself to the floor and thought, 'Have I been to zealous in catching Ohgi? She was right that Lelouch has given him six months... Perhaps I am the one at fault here..."

* * *

_**Above Mt. Asahidake, on board the Edo**_

"This is General Tohdoh, commander and chief of the Japanese forces. I order you to drop your weapons and surrender. You are completely surrounded with no hope of escape, make it easy on yourselves and surrender." General Tohdoh's voice echoed through the woods and around the mountain, giving the terrorists one last chance to surrender. Suddenly the view screen came alive and there was the face of a man in his early twenties.

"Ah so the king of the dogs has come to play, I will be accepting your surrender General, and then you will escort me to Tokyo, where I, Earl Jerimiah Franklin, will be crowned Overlord of the Elevens." said the man.

Controlling his anger Tohdoh replied back, "I think you are a little confused, we have Mt. Asahidake completely surrounded, we have you outgunned and outmatched. I will accept your surrender. You will be treated as a prisoner of war and will be treated humanly, which is more than I can say about your treatment of the Japanese civilians of Hokkaido. I-"

"Ha you think you can beat me?" interrupted the Earl, "I am a member of the nobility of Brittania! You are nothing but worms, small stepping stones on my way to retaking my families lands in Brittania! You will bow down to me Eleven, or I will brake you and all you Eleven dogs who dare stand before a true Brittanian!"

These insults finally pushed Tohdoh over the edge and he shouted back to the Earl, "We are not Elevens! We are Japanese, and we will never surrender to you Brittanian scum again! This is your last warning Earl Franklin, surrender or die!"

The Earl smiled, reminding Tohdoh of a spoiled child who knew he could get away with anything, "Very well, you will soon learn how weak you are compared to Brittanians. General Arnold, give these Elevens a thrashing will you?" asked the Earl and the screen cut off.

As soon as the screen went black the entire mountain lit up as hundreds of Knightmare frames began firing. They crashed into the shields of the Edo, and its support ships. Tohdoh issued his orders, "Oda! move your forces forward! Admiral Mori, launch all Knightmares on board the Kyoto, Osaka, Sendai, and Yokohama. Keep the Knightmares on board the Fukushima, Gifu, and Yamaguchi in reserve. Colonel Weinberg, are your men ready to move out?"

"Yes sir, my unit is ready to go."

"Very well, your orders are to find the entrance to the enemy base, enter, and destroy it."

"Yes sir! Elite Strike Force launching.... now!" With that, the Tristan Divider launched (in fortress form), followed by two Akatsuki Jikisanshiyōs and twelve Akatsukis. They flew right above the tree line trying to escape detection till the last second. They passed up Oda's Third Corp and were suddenly on the front lines. Finally they sighted the enemy, a team of six Sutherlands, all of which had red shoulders and faceplates (Blood-Purist faction) and a single Gloucester. None of them were equipped with any type of Float System. The enemy Knightmares began firing their assault rifles at Gino and his men, who simply dodged out of the way or blocked the bullets as they came. Gino smiled and said, "Is this all they've got? sigh, not even worth my time" Gino flew right at them and began to switch into frame mode. He landed in front of them fully ready for battle and slashed through the first Sutherland before they could retarget. The second one fell the same way, but then the Gloucester charged him. Gino smiled, deflected the Gloucester's lance and cleaved its head from its shoulders, all in one fluid movement. By this time the rest of the Elite Strike Force had caught up with Gino and made quick work of the remaining Sutherlands.

"General Tohdoh, we have made contact with enemy units, they seem to be made up of mostly Sutherlands and Gloucesters."

"Very good continue as planned, I will pass this information on to the other commanders."

As Gino and his troops searched for the entrance to the base inside the mountain, they fought many units like the first, all with 5th generation Knightmares that were to slow and weak to even hurt the Tristan Divider and his troops. However, with hundreds of the 5th generation frames firing minor casualties were inflicted on the Japanese army. Yet the majority of the Japanese pushed forward, storming up the mountain and firing from the skies. It was a slaughter as hundreds of terrorist were slain in the opening minutes of the conflict.

Tohdoh smiled as he watched the fire coming from the mountain dwindle, it appeared that Lelouch and himself had overestimated these terrorist, 'Well better overestimated than underestimated I always say,' thought Tohdoh.

Suddenly, Tohdoh's communications officer, Private Toshiie turned and said, "Sir, the Earl wishes to speak to you."

Tohdoh looked at Toshiie and nodded. Suddenly the Earl's face once again filled the viewing screen, and that annoying smile was still present. "So you are a bigger problem than I thought dog. I bet you think you've won to. Well guess what, when a dog dares to attack its master then that dog must be put down! Prepare to die!" All of a sudden, there was an explosion at the top of the mountain. The Snow at the peak of the mountain came tumbling down, mixing with the dirt lower down, and finally a landslide was formed! It came tumbling down the mountain at the Japanese ground troops. Those with Float systems immediately took to the air, some grabbing the ones without. Those who did not have float system and who did not have any aerial units to assist them tried to escape the landslide, to no avail. There was no place to hide, it was as if the entire mountain was crashing down on them!

General Katsu Oda could only watch in horror as half of his army fell under the crushing waves of the landslide. Watching the map, he suddenly realized that the wave of land sliding down wasn't stopping! He looked over to his staff and shouted, "Evacuate the command base! Get to the transports!" As he said this he saw that they had no time, the landslide was already upon them! The command base was easily swept away by the landslide. The last communication with the G-1 to the Edo was the General's apology, "I'm sorry Tohdoh,.... I've failed." With that all communication to the G-1 was lost. To make matters worse, all of Oda's Corp commanders had been lost in the landslide, trapped at their command bases. The upper echelon of ground command was gone!

To make matters worse, units near the mountain forgot about the enemy and began trying to dig out their comrades. Even the arial forces began to break ranks and land to assist in the excavation efforts.

Meanwhile on board the Edo, Tohdoh was trying to get back control of his men, "Captain Honjo, get your men back in line! Colonel Ishida reform you division. I need all squad commanders of ground force 1 to report in with casualty updates."

As he issued orders and his officers took stock of the great tragedy that had just befallen them, no one noticed twenty-two Knightmare frames flying up out of the smoke and debris at the summit of the mountain. No one that is, except for Lelouch who had been watching the battle from monitors in command room B. "Tohdoh! Look above the mountain!" shouted Lelouch into his head piece. It was to late...

The Knightmare frames split up, five groups were formed, four groups of five, each descending down one side of the mountain, and one group of two, who remained where they were. The Knightmares came down upon the unsuspecting Japanese on the ground and took them completely by surprise. The groups of five were made up of two Vincent Wards, two Gareths, and one Knightmare frame that the Japanese had never seen before.

Its body shape was similar to the Shinkiro yet bulkier, more like the Gawain. It was white, and had two energy wings that were nearly invisible in the daylight, yet Lelouch had seen them as they rose from the smoke, almost like angels rising from the mist. It had a sword on its back, and no other weapons were visible, yet Lelouch could tell that this was not its most deadly weapon. Suddenly Lelouch saw one move its arms. The arms refigured themselves into what looked like a cannon! The Knightmare let itself descend until the arm was pointing at what was left of the G-1 command base! Lelouch watched in horror as he saw General Oda and his command crew step out, of the half buried command base only to find a knightmare standing over them. General Oda stood tall and proud, wearing a defiant look on his face, never showing fear. He opened his mouth to speak. The Knightmare frame never gave him the chance.

The entire base of the mountain shook as the blast struck. When the smoke cleared there was no sign left of the G-1 base ever having been there. Just a crater at the base of the mountain.

Tohdoh meanwhile had just noticed them when General Oda was crawling out, with a knightmare standing over him. "Katsu?" said a disbelieving Tohdoh, who shouted, "NOOOO!" as he saw the Knightmare fire. Tohdoh immediately turned on communications to all commanders, and said, "Men engage the scum! They have just executed General Oda! Gino, I want you to kill the blasted pilot who killed General Oda."

"Yes sir! I'm already on it." Gino was currently flying right at the White Knightmare who had killed the General. His unit engaged the other Knightmares on this side of the mountain. He came at the Knightmare swords drawn and battle ready, while the white terror was taken by surprise and without hands. Gino swung his sword at the frame who raised its left arm to defend its self while moving its right to aim at Gino. Gino slashed at the arm only to meet a Blaze Luminous shield. He quickly pivoted out of the way, as the white Knightmare fired its cannon, hitting the mountain, and forming another landslide, forcing all units to separate and move to the air or be caught by a second landslide.

As Gino pulled up he activated his energy cannon and blasted the white Knightmare, "Gotcha," he said.

Yet out of the smoke shot out the white Knightmare! With sword drawn it charged the Tristan, which only had enough time to raise its swords in defense. The two Knightmares met and then disengaged. They came at each other once again, this time the Tristan was ready for it. He deflected with one sword and came up with the other, slashing into the sword arm of the Knightmare. Once again he encountered the Blaze Luminous shield, but this time the blades made from Excalibur cut through the shield, slicing off the arm of the Knightmare!

The white Knightmare began to fall back, but Gino was right on him. "You won't get away!" shouted Gino. The Knightmare turned and a small object ejected from its arm. The Knightmare grabbed it and it extended to form a staff. Gino still came on and struck the Knightmare, yet even with only one arm it was able to use the staff to hold back Gino. Gino struck at the Knightmare only to have it knocked away by the staff. The angelic Knightmare spun the staff around and came at Gino. The Tristan spun out of the way and separated the knightmare's head from its body. Gino finished it off with one quick stab to the chest.

As the Knightmare exploded, Gino smiled for a brief second, but then he saw the Yokohama, explode! Gino and all the Japanese forces were frozen in shock, an entire Battleship, blown up in the blink of an eye!

On board the Edo, Tohdoh saw what had caused this and it filled him with dread. Three of the angel like Knightmares had formed up in front of the Yokahoma, their units keeping the Japanese forces away. Suddenly their arms had changed into cannons and they fired at the Yokahoma. The Yokahoma's shields held for a few seconds, but it was no match for the combined blasts. The laser burst through the Yokahoma's shields and cut the ship in two!

Tohdoh quickly shouted commands, "Take them down! All units take them down!"

Gino blasted off at the Knightmares, only to be knocked away by another Knightmare, a Knightmare that looked far to familiar. "No! It can't be you, your dead!" Gino shouted, as the Knightmare came at him and Gino had to use every ounce of his skill just to stay alive....

The knightmare units of the Japanese army swarmed around, doing battle with the white Knightmare's support units, trying desperately to break through. Slowly the three knightmare frames turned, and looked directly at the Edo!

Tohdoh shouted his command, "All turrets take them down!" All weapons on board the Edo opened fire on the three Knightmares, and a large cloud of smoke was thrown into the air as some blasts exploded upon the targets and others missed, striking the mountain, vaporizing the snow. Finally the turrets needed to recharge and halted their fire.

As the smoke cleared, a new Knightmare stood in front of the original three, it appeared to be based on the Mordred, yet instead of a cannon, the wings had a formed a large Luminous Shield, protecting the angel like Knightmares. It had a white and blue color scheme, with a red star above three red bars on both shoulders. The Knightmare laughed hysterically, and in a voice that Tohdoh recognized as the Earl's it said, "Take it away boys. HAHAHA" The Knightmare began to descend and soon Tohdoh had the three Knightmares in front of his ship once again, only this time his turrets were not an option. His massive army and not a one could get through to the three Knightmares!

He watched as the arms of the three Knightmares charged up and Tohdoh knew that this was his end. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and prepared himself for the afterlife.

Suddenly a red beam shot at the Knightmares, destroying one of them before they scattered! As the other two turned to see what had happened a red blur came right at the nearest one. The white Knightmare didn't even have time to defend its self. The blur simply grabbed the angel's head and five seconds later blew up the body. The third aimed both its cannons at the Knightmare, which those who had served in the Black Knights knew as their ace, the Guren! As the Archangel frame fired, the Guren matched it with its Radiation Wave Surger. The two beams connected and blew each other apart. The Archangel drew its sword preparing to charge the Guren, yet this time it was the white Knightmare who was taken by surprise, as the Guren shot out of the smoke and came upon it with its MVS fork knife. The two Knightmares deflected each others blows, then came back at each other, parrying each blow for blow. The Archangel pulled back activated his staff in his left hand, twirled it above his head twice , then brought it down, in an attack ready position. Holding the staff with his left hand and the sword with his right, the Archangel seemed to be a fearsome opponent, even more so when one saw the electricity flow through the staff. Yet Kallen was unfazed and simply charged the Knightmare, using her knife to block his sword, and her Radiation Wave to block the staff. Yet though it looked like a stalemate the Guren came on, spinning away from the staff, and launched its radiant wave arm at the Knightmare. The arm blasted through the Blaze Luminous shield, cutting to the very heart of the Knightmare. As the arm pulled back, the final archangel exploded. The Guren had done it, it had saved the Edo!

Many Japanese stared in awe and amazement for there was only one pilot who could fly the Guren.... Kallen was back!

Yet while the Japanese all prepared to celebrate, Kallen had another thing on her mind. There were two targets left, the one Gino was fighting, which no information had been gathered on yet, or the Earl's Mordred, which seemed to be more defensive than attack. The remaining terrorist were being mopped up by the reinforcements from the Fukishima and Gifu. Kallen turned towards the remaining Knightmares, but all she saw was dense clouds of smoke and debris.

All of a sudden she saw a Knightmare fall from the cloud. She knew that Knightmare, and the pilot that must be inside. The Tristan fell, half of its body severed from the other, and its float drive damaged. She wanted to help Gino, but she knew the best way to help was to finish off the terrorists. She saw the Mordred like Knightmare fly out of the smoke, and she launched after it. She had some room to make up, but her Guren was faster than the Mordred and would be in striking distance in only a few seconds.

She was nearing attack range when she heard over the com, "Kallen to your right! Watch out!" urged Lelouch. Kallen turned to the right, and brought her radiation wave up just in time to block the MVS sword that came down at her. She raised her knife, parrying the second MVS sword. She executed a roundhouse kick, forcing the Knightmare to disengage to avoid being hit. It was at this time that she fully saw what this Knightmare was.

Lelouch, watching from the monitors on the Edo could only see from Kallen's viewpoint, due to the distance she was from the fleet. His breath caught in his throat as he finally was able to take in the Knightmare frame. "What are you doing here!" he shouted at the monitor.

Kallen was likewise surprised. She could barely speak, as she comprehended which Knightmare was front of her and who the pilot was. Standing before her was the rebuilt Lancelot Albion. There was only one man who could pilot that Knightmare. Once again Lelouch shouted at the monitor, "You are supposed to be protecting Nunnally!"

Kallen, her face hardening, activated her radiation wave shield to block the Varis rifles blast, and once it ended she shot out of the smoke, charging the Lancelot, and shouted, "SUZAKU!!!

* * *

**Who is this pilot who can defeat even a former Knight of Rounds member like Gino? Is it truly Suzaku? If not him than who?**

**Find out on the next episode of Code Geass R3 Return of the Demon King.**

**So did you like it? Once again I apologize for how long this took and hopefully I will get the next ch done much faster. As always Question comments and ideas are encouraged. Review!**


	14. Battle of Mt Asahidake Part 2

**Hello all, happy (late) Mardi Gras! I most apologize for how long this has taken. I just have not had the time to write. :\ Just seems like I am always busy now. I will try to update more often but please forgive me if it is another long period of time until the next update. To all of my faithful readers, thank you for still reading this. As always, Read and Review.**

**Now for the continuation of Code Geass R3, The Demon Returns (haha if only) **

**Battle of Mt. Asahidake Part 2**

"Suzaku!" She shouted as she blasted towards the Lancelot. She came at the Knightmare frame with all the power of a Tsunami, holding nothing back, knowing that if this was Suzaku she would need every ounce of her skill to defeat him. He had already defeated Gino, who was no push over, and had now challenged her, the Ace of the Black Knights. It must be Suzaku...

As she charged, the Lancelot didn't move. It seemed to be inviting her to attack.... This made Kallen suspicious, yet she had to take her chance. Then she was on top of the Lancelot and there was no time to think anymore, she had committed to the attack. She reached back and activated her Radiation Wave, shouting, "Take this!" and reached out for the head of the Lancelot. Suddenly the Lancelot shot straight down, out of harms way, slash harkens flying and swords drawn. The Harkens gripped the arms and legs of the Guren, while the swords slashed at the midsection and legs. Kallen tried to manuever around them but she had no where to go. She was a sitting duck! It had all been a trap to bring her close and destroy her in one fell swoop! In the seconds between her charge and the impact of those blades, she could feel her adrenaline leave, to be replaced by the gnawing fear of approaching death. She watched in slow motion as the blades came forward to slice through her Guren. There was nothing she could do...

Then Kallen moved past the moment of fear, and came to the acceptance of her death. She regretted that it would come this way, that there was so much she had yet to do that would never be accomplished. She thought about Milly and Rivals who had stayed her friend following the downfall of Lelouch, at a time where she was seen as larger than life and few would even attempt talking to her. She thought about Ohgi and Tohdoh, a brother and fatherly figure to her. Finally she thought about Lelouch, how he had come back into her life, how she felt about him, and how she wished she had been able to spend more time with him....All this happened in a matter of seconds, her entire life, both past, present, and what could be her future, flashed before her eyes. Yet when her the flashes of her life were done she still had to accept reality.

Finally the blades hit, in what both pilots knew would be the final stroke. The right arm connected with the Guren's midsection while the left went for her legs. Yet when they hit something weird happened... The blades were stopped by what appeared to be a Blaze Luminous shield! Both pilots were stunned by this realization, Kallen staring dumbly at her machine, while the Lancelot pilot allowed the Lancelot's arms to fall slightly before righting them and preparing for another attack.

Suddenly, Kallen's communicator clicked on and she heard Tohdoh on the other end, "Kallen! Move! We fitted the Guren with some extra features this time around, but that Luminous shield wont hold up against many more hits!"

Kallen snapped out of her confusion and tried to move her Guren out of harms way, but the slash Harkens still held her, and she said, "I cant get out Tohdoh! He's got me all wrapped up!"

"Press the Energy Dispersion button, to the right of your control panel, it will put out waves of energy all around the Guren's body and should take care of those Slash Harkens. Now hurry, he's coming for another attack!"

Kallen did exactly that, and she watched as Radiation Waves began to disperse out of the Guren. The Slash Harkens acted as conduits, leading the Radiation Waves straight to the Lancelot. The waves even stopped his second attack from landing, knocking the swords back. The Lancelot was trapped, the Radiation flowing through the Harkens, prevented them from retracting, and as long as they were connected Radiation seeped across, damaging the Lancelot. Now the Lancelot was the sitting duck!

As the radiation wave continued infecting the Lancelot, the pilot, a young man in a white pilot suit gripped the controls. Beads of sweat rolled down his brown hair into his shadowed face. The temperature of the cockpit was increasing to a point of causing severe damage to both machine and pilot. His own slash harkens would lead to his undoing... 'No!' he thought vehemently, 'It will not end this way!'

Kallen meanwhile watched multiple things. Her cockpit temperature had risen by five degrees due to the radiation seeping out of the frame from all points, as it first had to draw the energy from the sakuradite and bring it to all points of the frame to give off this energy dispersion. Though minimal, Kallen worried about the temperature should she have to keep this up for a prolonged period of time. She also watched her power output, as she would be in trouble should she run out of power at 10,000ft. The final thing she watched was the Lancelot. If the radiation had been concentrated then the Lancelot would have been destroyed or at least severely damaged by now, yet the radiation was more spread out in this mode and was interring at four separate points, thus spreading the damage, so the Lancelot was slowly melting, instead of exploding all at once. Yet, the radiation should be enough to prevent the controls from responding. Even so, she wanted to be sure that the Lancelot was done. If the pilot truly was Suzaku then he would come up with something. He was not one to roll over and die...

Suddenly, the Lancelot's arms moved, straight up into the air. Kallen was taken aback by this, and began trying to increase the radiation shield around the Guren, 'The Radiation wave, along with the Blaze Luminous should be enough to prevent either one from getting through, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.' she thought

The pilot of the Lancelot let out a great shout, yelling, "It will not end like this!" and with that the blades began to descend. Yet the Guren was not the target of the blades, the slash harkens were! As the blades descended Kallen was convinced the blades were coming for her, until the last second. She stared dumbstruck by what she had just saw, the pilot had cut off some of his most lethal weapons, in an attempt to get away. Though Kallen understood his reasoning she thought it was a little extreme, even for someone like Suzaku. As the Guren was cut lose however, she no longer cared, the enemy had made himself weaker and she was free to go at him, and thats exactly what she did.

As soon as the Slash Harkens were cut, the Lancelot shot into the air, gaining distance and height upon the Guren. The pilot of the Lancelot let out an audible sigh, then steeled himself for round two. His Slash Harkens were gone, and many of his systems were damaged, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. 'That is,' he thought with a grimace as the controls behaved sluggishly under his hands, 'if the Lancelot can keep it together long enough for me to do so.'

Then there was no time to think for either one, as the Guren closed on the Lancelot. The Radiation Wave arm shot out, going straight at the Lancelot, who swatted it away with its twin swords. As the Radiation arm returned, the Guren engaged the Lancelot, both sides refusing to give in. They disengaged once, then came at each other again, each one trying to gain an advantage over another. They broke away again, and again they came at each other. They repeated this a third time, neither one able to breakthrough the other's defenses. As they disengaged the third time, the Lancelot quickly sheathed its swords, and pulled out its powerful Combined Super Varis Rifle. Before the Guren could move the Lancelot fired and hit the Guren causing a huge explosion. As the smoke cleared however, it became apparent that the Guren was still alright, having saved itself by firing a stream of radiation towards the blast. Once again the two combatants had fought to a stalemate.

The two combatants charged their weapons, preparing to try to over power the other with brute strength. Suddenly Slash Harkens shot around the Lancelot, wrapping around its arms, legs, and midsection, immobilizing the Knightmare Frame in a spread eagle position. The Pilot was taken by surprise and before he knew it he was caught, twenty Akatsuki frames descended from the air around the Lancelot, with five Akatsuki Jikisanshiyō hovering just above. Ten of the Akatsukis had their slash Harkens wrapped around the Lancelot, while the rest had their guns leveled at the Lancelot, ready to fire. The commander, a red Jiksanshiyō, which had many features of the Zangetsu, including the hair piece and shoulder armor, opened communications and said, "This is Colonel Yoshiaki, stand down or be slain Suzaku!"

The air was filled with anticipation, though it appeared that the Lancelot was done for, no one was ready to write off this powerful machine and its ace pilot. Then suddenly, a laugh was heard emanating from the Lancelot. It was an eerie type of laugh, one that not only said that the pilot was confidant, but also perhaps insane! Suddenly the pilot of the Lancelot spoke, saying, "Suzaku... I have not heard that name in a long time. He was an ace pilot, and in that regard you honor me. Yet he had a tragic flaw, he was an ELEVEN! Thus you insult me, me of noble standing and birth! No, I am not Suzaku, I am Benjamin! Lord Benjamin! Oldest son of the house Arnold, Heir to that family of Loyal Vassals to the Family Franklin! Though you may slay me, I will not allow you to harm my lord, thus I must destroy you all now!" With that said, blades swung out from the Lancelot's arms, slicing the ropes that bound its arms. Before anyone could comprehend what had just happened, the Lancelot's arms descended cutting away the final ropes that held it bound. As the ropes fell away, the Lancelot took off, striking at the Knightmares that had so recently ensnared it. It moved so fast, few even had time to move!

The Lancelot shot bursts of its dual Varis rifles at the Japanese Knightmares, blowing many of them away. The Guren shot up, following the Lancelot, hoping to cut him off and stop the destruction. Combining its rifle, the Lancelot turned and let out a powerful blast, destroying three more Akatsuki's and slamming into the Guren, pushing it away. After blasting the Guren away, the Lancelot sheathed its gun and drew its swords. It cut threw another Akatsuki and charged another.

Colonel Yoshiaki shouted, "Take him down! Take him down!" and moved to gain altitude to see the battle. Once spotting the Lancelot again, he opened fire with his dual barrel hand guns and shouted, "Come get me! You Bloody Beast, Come face someone your own size!. This drew the attention of the Lancelot, which shot up towards him. The Colonel shouted, drawing his sword " Yeah, Come face me you coward! Killing soldiers no more than boys! You will pay!" With the Lancelot fast approaching, Yoshiaki drew his sword and prepared to meet this powerful foe.

Their swords clashed, but though the Lancelot had been stopped on one side, the other was wide open. The Lancelot yanked its other arm up, decapitating the Akatuski Jikisanshiyō's arm from its body. As the Akatuski Jikisanshiyō began to fall, the Lancelot prepared to deliver it a final strike, when suddenly it was struck from behind by the Guren's energy hand, which grabbed onto the Lancelot's head. "No more!" Shouted Kallen, "You will kill no more!" With that the Guren activated the Radiation wave.

The Lancelot began to pulse as the Radiation entered its system. It would only be a matter of seconds before the radiation triggered the sakuradite in the Knightmare Frame. The Lancelot's pilot knew that he had only seconds to work with. With the confidence of an Ace Pilot, Benjamin flipped a switch and began typing a special code into the machine. Finally, Benjamin hit a button in the upper left corner of his control panel. With that a loud explosion sounded, and the area was filled with smoke.

The Guren's arm went slack and was pulled back. Kallen gazed at the smoke, hoping that it was finally over. Colonel Yoshiaki had finally righted himself and entered the _Edo_'s hangar bay. Every Japanese pilot held their breath with the hope that they had finally ended this battle. Suddenly they were astounded as something flew from the smoke. It was the Emergency Survival Cockpit! They had defeated the Lancelot, and now had the chance to capture the pilot! The Japanese frames began to chase after the pod, confidant in their ability to catch one escape pod.

_**On board the King Arthur**_

"Here you go, my lady. This room is for you." stated the General who had decided to personally show them to their rooms. "Yours, master Zero is here across the hall. If you will follow me-"

"I'm sorry," interrupted Zero, "but I will share the same room with the Empress."

"Oh?" said the General looking between the two of them with a surprised and questioning expression on his face, "Forgive me, I did not know you two shared the same bed, in that case Schneizel you can have the room across the hall."

"That is not what I said," stated Zero with a hint of anger in his voice, "I said I will share the same room. I am her Guardian as well as advisor, and though you have proved to be trustworthy General Hector, that does not mean that trust extends to your men, not in this type of situation where anyone could look for a bonus from the other side by killing or kidnapping the Empress."

"Well I am insulted that you would think my men would betray you, they are all professional soldiers and loyal to me." said an obviously amused and skeptical General, "Well either way it does not concern me how deep you twos relationship goes, all I now is that I will protect you your Highness, even if you are a little to close to a masked man." the General still smiling, bowed and said, "I will take my leave then, Schneizel I would like to talk to you about some things, and reminisce about old times."

As the General walked off, Zero glared off at him. Zero was thankful for the mask, because he could feel his face on fire. Finally he looked down at the Empress who had a huge smile on her face and looked like she was about to laugh. She looked up at him and said, "You know you could of told him that you are helping me with my leg exercises."

He opened the door to their room, pushed her wheelchair in, and said, "Like he said, it is none of his business." He closed and locked the door behind them.

In the general's quarters, Schneizel and the general were reminiscing about old times, when suddenly the general asked, "Schneizel, is this rebellion your doing?"

Schneizel looked over at the general, cool as ever, and said, "Why would you think that?"

"You were always an ambitious one Schneizel. It would not surprise me if you had started this in the hope of becoming emperor yourself. You and Nunnally are just about all of the Imperial family left, so if she was to abdicate the throne because of this, you would be the obvious choice. I want to know Schneizel, did you have anything to do with it."

"...No," said Schneizel, "I have nothing to do with it. I have lost much of my support in the army after my loss to Lelouch, which destroyed my credibility. Besides which, I owe Zero my life. If he supports Nunnally then so do I."

The general looked at Schneizel for a second, then said, "Very well Schneizel, I believe you. So what are our plans regarding this war we must fight?"

As the two excellent strategist talked they relieved much of the stress that they had been under. Yet they had no idea about what was coming in just a short amount of time....

**2 hours later**

"Come on Nunnally, you can do it. Just a little farther." said Suzaku, who was at the opposite end of the room. Nunnally had been trying to relearn to walk for a year now, and everyday she did exercises to try to rebuild her leg muscles. She had already completed her leg exercises and was had walked the length of the room twice now, and was halfway done with her fifth and final lap of the night. Suzaku had been coaching her through it all, yet she did not know how much farther she could go. The twin bars that he had set up along the length of the room gave her support and a much needed place to rest when she could not take it any longer. Yet she was determined to make this lap without any help. She was only ten steps from the end, where Suzaku waited for her. She smiled at that and remembered how even when they were young he would help her and brother. Though at first he had been mean, after time he had come to be one of there best friends. In truth, her only friend. Now here he was, helping her to walk!

She took another step, only nine more to go. The pain she felt in her legs was beginning to become intolerable, yet she pushed on. Eight more steps, seven, six....

Suddenly the floor shook and the bars at her sides fell to the floor. She staggered trying to reach Suzaku before falling. Suzaku meanwhile shot towards her as soon as he saw the bars fall and caught her as she fell. "Are you alright Nunnally?"

"Fine... What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied with a grim look on his face, "but I will find out."

Just then they heard the general's commanding voice over the intercom, "All men to battle stations! Launch all Knightmare frame units!" as the ship-wide communication ended, a message came over their intercom, "Empress Nunnally, are you there?"

"I'm here General, what happened? Are we under attack?"

"I'm afraid we are Empress. It appears some of the fleet found out about you being on board this ship. Don't worry though we will keep you safe. Zero are you there?"

"I'm here."

"Good, stay where you are and protect the Empress. Lt. Gilcrest will arrive shortly to escort the Empress and yourself to a safe area. Please listen to him."

"But General-"

"No buts Zero, I need to know that she is safe. She needs you Zero, let my men and I handle this."

"....Very well General, it will be as you say."

"Good, now I must go. Take care of her Zero..." With that the communication ended.

Suzaku helped Nunnally into her wheelchair and grabbed his mask and cape, (the only parts of his Zero outfit he had removed). As he put it on, their door opened and in walked a soldier who immediately gave a salute and said, "Lt. Gilcrest, reporting. Please follow me, the shield should give us plenty of time to reach the shuttle bay, but best not to dawdle." He turned around and began walking at a brisk pace.

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Nunnally as she was pushed out of the room by Zero, "Do you not think that the ship and troops will be able to hold?"

The lieutenant looked back but kept walking and said, "To be honest, no I do not. Who knows, perhaps the general can pull another miracle out of his hat. He certainly has managed to create a lot of them. Anyway, We are facing two Logres Class Floating Battleships and three Caerleon Class Battleships. We also have to deal with their Knightmares which they will have in plenty. Now come, we must hurry."

They moved as quickly as possible, dodging engineers and support units who ran to get to their destinations. It was a long walk but finally they arrived at a room. The lieutenant walked on in, yet Zero stopped and said, "This does not look like a shuttle bay.."

"Not yet it doesn't, but it will soon, if you will hurry up."

Said shuttle bay looked like any other room, complete with bed, chairs, and a bathroom of to the side. Nunnally looked up at Zero as if asking him to go in. He did just that, but made sure he was ready to draw his gun at a single wrong move by the lieutenant. As they walked in Gilcrest pressed a button and said, "We are in General. You may begin the separation."

"Good work Lieutenant, head to the control room and take command. Get them to Portland, Lieutenant." Gilcrest went to a swivel chair at a desk and pressed three buttons. A door appeared in the wall, which Gilcrest walked through. Zero followed and saw that it was a command area. Schneizal and Sayoko were inside, seated at a pair of control panels, while Gilcrest began working on another.

Schneizal looked up and said, "Zero, I suggest that you go and strap Nunnally's chair down and find a seat your self, we will be taking off soon and the separation of this shuttle may be rough, especially should the Battleship require evasive maneuvers." Zero looked at him and asked, "Where are we? This is not a standard shuttle. What is this place?"

Gilcrest looked up from his control panel and said, "If you must know to be quieted, this is the General's personal shuttle. It was built into the belly of the Battleship with the exact notion of should the General have to escape this would be available. It is faster than the other shuttles, and even has its own shield generator. It is a great honor the General has bestowed to give up his shuttle, now will you please go and get the Empress strapped down?"

Zero looked at Gilcrest for a moment, then nodded and walked out, going to Nunnally, "Apparently we are going to make an escape, I need you to move to one of the other chairs. Do you think you can walk or do I need to carry you?" She nodded and said, "I can make it." As she said this she stood up and walked the three steps needed to get to the nearest chair and sat down in it. Zero folded her wheelchair and locked it down, then went and sat next to Nunnally, who had buckled a seatbelt.

As another blast rocked the ship she whispered, "Thank you Suzaku, for everything."

Suzaku smiled under his mask, "It was a pleasure Nunnally." Suzaku looked over at the control room, to ensure those inside had not heard. They continued about there business as normal, so they most not have. Funny what you started to care about when it looked like you would die.

Then another blast rocked the Battleship, and suddenly a power surge went through the ship, as the shield went down. The two heard Gilcrest curse and turn on the com saying, "General, the surge just blew out my command controls. I can't disconnect from the ship. I need someone to do it from the outside."

"Understood Lieutenant, someone will be there shortly."

As the communication ended Gilcrest came out and said, "Blast it all! The surge blew out the command controls! Empress, due to this ship needing to disconnect from the ship and not just taking off through the hanger bay, we must now wait for the General to send someone to disconnect us with the manual switch outside. It should be fine, as those controls have a surge protector over it, all the General needs to do is flip the proverbial switch so to speak... But all we can do now is wait. I hope the General gets someone here soon..."

Meanwhile the General was issuing orders, "I need security teams on floors twelve through fourteen. I also need teams standing by in shuttle bay eight to engage enemy forces."

"Sir! Another enemy boarding party has arrived, this time on deck seven. It's apparent they either want to take the ship or they want the Empress alive."

"Send a security team to defend deck seven, and have engineers evacuate the area. Once the engineers are out pull the team out and seal off deck seven. There's nothing there that we need, so best for them to move to repair the shields or the turrets anyway. Who are the two closest officers to shuttle bay omega?"

"..... That would be you and the colonel sir. The rest are scattered around the ship's edge, battling boarding parties. "

The general cursed under his breath. He and the colonel looked at one another and the general said, "It will take both of our command codes to activate it from the outside." The colonel nodded, and began walking to the elevator. The general looked to his crew and said, "Captain Mitchell, your in command. Don't let me down. Give me as much time as you can against those boarding parties."

"Sir, yes sir!" said the Captain and took the command chair. The general joined the colonel in the elevator and they began to descend into the ship. The colonel spoke, saying, "It has been an honor serving with you all these years sir."

The general smiled and said, "The pleasure was mine Colonel, you are one of the best officers I have ever known. Now don't start getting sentimental on me, we are far from dead yet. I plan to get this shuttle launched and then to pull another Iwo Jima.

The colonel laughed at that. Iwo Jima had certainly been a miracle. "Of course sir, if anyone can pull off a miracle in this situation its you."

"That's right, and lets not forget the fact that we have a lot better equipment this time around. Before, I had to use tanks and ground troops to pull a miracle off, now we have Knightmares and floating fortresses. Don't worry my old friend, we will find a way to bring these traitors down."

Another blast rocked the ship and the general began to move as fast as his sixty year old legs would carry him. The colonel was right behind him. Finally they arrived and the general called over the com, "Ready Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir, on your mark."

"Colonel, the other command pad is right down there, I'll take this one you use that one."

"Understood," the colonel ran off down the hall and slid his card through the pad, and began pressing buttons. The general did the same. Unfortunately, the general was much slower due to his arthritis, and the colonel had finished and pressed the release button and was already walking down to the general. It would not release until both had been unlocked so the sooner the general finished the better.

He was almost done when five men came in, and said, "Hold it right there General." The general pushed the last button of his code in, all that remained was the launch button. He turned to look at the five, a captain, two lieutenants, a sergeant and two privates, all members of his crew. The captain raised his gun and said, "I told you to hold it General."

"What is the meaning of this Captain..."

"I think you know sir, we are not going to die for you, and the easiest way to gain favor with them is to hand over the Empress. You are an added bonus though sir. It's over, I'm relieving you of command. Private Lewis, disarm the General."

As the Private moved forward and began to reach for the gun the General pulled it out and stuck it under the privates chin, saying "This the one you want Private?" All four of the others had their guns trained on the general now.

"Let him go General, and hand over the gun" said the captain, then looking at the colonel he said, "Your either with us or against us Colonel," As he said this the Sergeant trained his gun on the Colonel.

The colonel stood there for a time, then drew his gun..... and pointed it at the general's head! He said, "As I told you before sir, it has been an honor serving with you, but like they said, it's over." The sergeant moved his gun to the general, and suddenly the colonel pointed at the sergeant and fired, hitting the sergeant in the head. The general followed suit, killing the private and grabbed the body and used it as a shield. The Colonel shot the other private, this time right between the eyes, but was then shot twice in the chest by a lieutenant. The general shot the captain right through the neck, then fell to the floor as one of his legs were hit, yet he kept firing killing the lieutenant who had shot the colonel. The final lieutenant shot the general in the chest, kicked the body of the private out of the general's tiring hand and stepped on his wrist which held the gun.

The lieutenant smiled down at the general and said, "Well you certainly made a mess of things sir, but you've increased whatever reward I will get, and for that I thank you. Don't worry sir, I'll make it quick, you deserve that much." As he said this he raised his gun and pointed it at the generals head, "Goodbye General Hector, you will be remembered as an idealist I believe, a loyal soldier to a weak regime. Goodbye sir, and may you find happiness in what ever gods you cherish.

A single bullet shot rang through the hall.

The lieutenant fell, with a bullet hole right between the eyes! The general turned around, and saw the colonel, laying against a wall, smiling he said, "I couldn't let you go before me sir." The two had a short laugh at that, yet they both knew they were dying.

The general crawled over to the command pad turned on his com and said, "You are clear to go lieutenant." with that he pressed the release button and heard the engines of the shuttle take off. He pressed his com and said, "Bridge.... patch me into the ship wide com system,"

"Yes sir, are you alright sir?"

"Just do as I order Captain," the General's breathing had become heavy and he knew he did not have a lot of time.

"Done sir, ready to receive message.

"Thank you Captain.... All units, this is the general speaking, I want to thank you all for serving under me.....cough, cough, cough", the general's speech was broken by his coughing and by another blast that rocked the ship. Yet he continued, "It has been a pleasure and a- an honor serving with you. You are some of the finest troops, I have ever commanded, and I am proud to of been your commanding officer. Now-(the generals voice begins to get weaker as the blood drains from his wounds and he is sure he has internal bleeding,) "Now, I have one last favor to ask of all of you. It is not an order, I can not order this. This is a favor I ask of a man who has come to think of you all as brothers. Please assist the Empress escape. This is my final request. It has been a great honor serv-serving with all of you....." That last was but a whisper, yet it brought tears to many strong men's eyes, they could hear the defeat in their general's voice and knew his time was running out. Some troops chose to run, others chose to avenge his death, others surrendered on the spot in despair at their general's death, yet the vast majority chose to grant their general's last request.

Gilcrest suddenly had fifteen knightmare frames protecting the shuttlecraft. He could not help but smile and say, "Thank you General, for everything." He quickly out maneuvered the pursuers with the help of the Knightmare frames and was soon on their way to Portland.

Back on the ship, the general made one last call to his men, "Captain Mitchell, set the ship on a course to the nearest capital ship, and give the order to begin the self destruct sequence. Order all men to evac."

"Sir, understood sir. I will activate the self-destruct sequence myself. And sir, may I say, that it has been an honor to serve under you these last three years."

"Thank you Captain. You have been an excellent officer..... It was a pleasure working with you." whispered the general, and with that they ended the communication.

The general crawled over to the colonel. They sat next to each other, both feeling their deaths approaching. The colonel, pulled some beads out of his back pocket, did a sign and croaked, "We should spend these last few moments in prayer for the after life."

The general laughed weakly and said, "And what god do you pray to my friend? What god will take care of us, now that we are nearing death?"

The colonel looked over and said, "Why, the one true God, Jesus Christ of course. I suppose you do not believe my friend?"

"Haha, and to think, I had thought that Emperor Charles had rooted out all of the members of that cult you call a religion, and here I find that my own second is a member of 'The Way', ironic no?"

The colonel frowned but replied weakly, "Yes it is my friend, yet I had hoped that you a had found something to believe in after all the miracles you have seen.."

Once again the general laughed weakly and whispered, "I'm sorry my friend, those miracles are nothing more than a mix of luck and skill on our part. We really were just that good my friend, I do not see the hand of some divine being in those miracles."

"I am sorry to hear that Hector, in that case, I shall pray for the both of us."

The general laughed at this, but began to choke and cough. He knew his time was coming, he couldn't even talk anymore. He was sure that the bullet in his chest had punctured a lung. The last thing he felt was his friend's hand on his shoulder, and the last he heard before entering the blackness was a whispered,

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, cough cough cough.... thy will be done... on Earth... as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, cough.. our-our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those, cough cough... who sin against us, and lead us not into temptation, but.... deliver us from evil. (little more than a whispered croak) Lord forgive us cough cough cough, our sins and help us to come-come to your holy-holy alter, where we will give you praise and glory.... now and forever. Lord Jesus Christ (takes in painful breath), please bring my friend Hector, to your kingdom. Though he knows you not, he is a good man. May his actions and deeds bring him mercy and the reward of eternal life. In your name Jesus Christ, we pray amen. Come (another coughing fit strikes him, in which he spits up blood)..... Holy spirit... and renew the face of the earth. T....."

Though his friend continued to defiantly pray, fighting his nearing death to get every prayer for his friend in as possible, General Hector heard no more.

As Gilcrest flew away, keeping the Empress safe, he saw on the radar an explosion, as the King Arthur self-destructed, taking two enemy Caerleon Battleships with it. 'Good-bye General, you were like a father to me. I will honor your last wish and keep the Empress safe. You may rest in peace General, knowing that I will defend her, even should it cost me my life.' were his final thoughts as he finally got out of radar range and escaped the battlefield.

**Bogota Columbia**

Captain Uribe sat in his cell, contemplating his life up to now. Though he sat in this dark dingy cell, he wouldn't change a thing. The Britannian scum had not treated him well and he had not eaten in three days and the water he had been given was rancid and filled with dirt. He had been in this cell for the last week and a half, and the daily beatings were wearing even his tough, battle hardened frame. The only thing that made it bearable was the thought of his Commander, General Bolivar, being free. That lone fact made it possible for Uribe to make it through the days of beatings and nights of hunger.

Suddenly his concentration was broken by the sound of doors clashing. Uribe knew it was to be today. From what he had been able to gather from the few guards who would talk to him, usually young guards who enjoyed the beatings and who liked to crush their captives spirits, it was to be a public execution. It was to be an example for all those who dared stand against the Empire, or in this case, General Hollister. The guards, in their camo military uniforms stood outside of the cell door. Some of those same guards who had enjoyed taunting him now stood outside, with wicked smiles on their faces. The Captain of the team opened the door and told Uribe to get up. Uribe steeled himself for what was to come, and stood, as they placed the restraints on his wrists and ankles. Always the proud warrior he refused to show them any weakness.

The guards, five in all, led him roughly out of the cell and into the rest of the prison. After five minutes of walking through the prison, they emerged from the building into the light of day. The light forced its way into Uribe's eyes. After being enclosed in the dark cell for so long, the light felt like needles being shoved forcefully into his brain. Uribe winced in pain, but refused to show any further signs of frailty. They marched him, towards the center of the square, where a raised platform awaited him. Set upon the platform were the gallows, revealing to Uribe just how they planned to have him executed.

A large crowd had gathered around the square, fenced in by Military police. Surrounding the waiting gallows, were five towering Knightmare Frames, all positioned inward, starring down at Uribe as he approached. The guards forcefully hurried him to his place, on top the gallows, where the hangman awaited him. They turned and left, leaving Uribe alone with his executioner. The Security Commander, the master of Life and Death in Bogota, joined the officers on the balcony of the police station. As he arrived, a murmur arouse from those gathered. He silenced them with a wave of his hand, and looked down upon the proud resistance fighter in front of him. He raised his voice and in a commanding tone, stated, "If you have any last words, speak them now."

Uribe looked up at the Commander, then at the gathered crowd, and said, "I would give my life a thousand times over, for one man's freedom. I regret, that I have but one life to give for my people, but I die, with the knowledge that one day, my people will be free, and so, I die now, a free man! ¡Viva la Revolución!" With that, the black bag was pulled over his head, and as he struggled, a noose was pulled over his head and down his neck. The crowd waited in silence, waiting for the lever to be pulled.

Suddenly the silence of the square was broken, by the sound of a bullet, slicing through the air. The security Commander fell from his perch on the balcony. The crowd looked on in silence, stunned by what they had just seen. A split second after the Commander hit the ground, the air was rent by gun fire, and explosions. The square erupted into chaos, onlookers trampling over each other to try to get away. Even the Knightmare Frames were not immune, as rocket fire flew through the air, striking the Knightmare Frames.

As Rockets and gunfire flew from the buildings and alleyway, a transport shuttle landed in the square, allowing three small Knightmare Frames to disgorge from it. The small team of light Knightmares laid down suppression fire, forcing the security forces to run, and crippling the opposing Knightmare Frames.

Uribe was pushed into the shuttle, and the black bag was pulled off his head, revealing the Ambassador Clinton! "It's good to have you back Uribe." Said the Ambassador, as the shuttle was refilled by the Knightmare Frames. As soon as the Frames were back in, the Shuttle took off and was met by arial Knightmares, who escorted it out of the city. As the shuttle took off those freedom fighters throughout the city began to slowly disengage and slink back into the sewers and dark places of the city. The entire operation took less than ten minutes.

**End!**

**Thank you for Reading. Once again, I am sorry for not having got this done sooner, and I hope to get the next ch done much faster. Hopefully I wont make you all wait as long as this last time. The last part was a little rushed, but I think it came out pretty good, even if it was a little short. Anyways, Remember, Review! All suggestions and Ideas are welcome and appreciated. The more reviews the easier it is for me to put school and life on hold and write so lets get a lot of reviews ^_^**

**Shhh! Ok this is Thomas, alternite half of this account. Just a bit of detail for next chapter: Minimum Fourty days. So, check back then maybe a bit after.**


	15. Revelations

**And I'm back with another awesome ch of Code Geass r3 The demon Returns! sorry its been so long, Been busy, and unfortunately going to get even busier. That why I made it my mission to get this out today. I hope you all enjoy and will read and review. Thanks again for reading.**

Zero watched as the shuttle circled Portland Air Base. It was a large military installation, specializing in the creation and use of Arial Knightmare Frames and Battleships. 'I hope,' thought Zero, 'That the new commander of Portland is as loyal as General Hector was. There are not many men like him left in the world, so loyal even to the point of death. He was a true Britannian hero.'

The shuttle touched down and skidded across the runway. Zero looked at Nunnally sitting next to him. She had fallen asleep almost immediately after their escape, no doubt tired from not only being ambushed twice in the same day, but also performing her exercises that hopefully would one day allow her to walk. At present she still dozed softly, oblivious to the world. 'She looks so at peace. Why must someone so gentle go through war all over again?' Zero did not have an answer to his question, just the knowledge that it was unfair that this gentle young girl must face the savageness of war once again. True she was no where near the naive little girl who she once was, at sixteen she had already lived through two wars, and had been the Empress of the declining Britannian Empire. She was brilliant before hand, not Lelouch smart but brilliant none the less, and her time as Empress had sharpened her wits and had showed her mind new ways to think. At times she could be down right devious, surpassing even Zero with plans to catch traitors and criminals. Yet through it all her gentle side always won out, she had constantly worked at helping the weak and poor of her nation and of the world. For the hungry she gave food, for the homeless she built shelters, and for the orphaned children she found families. The citizenry loved her, with her leading the way Britannian citizens had begun to leave behind the Social Darwinism of the past and had begun reaching out to the world with the hand of peace.

As the shuttle finally came to a halt, Zero sighed at that thought, she seemed to be the right Empress at the wrong time. At any other point of history the nations of the world would have listened to her message of peace and equality, but the UFN had quickly run into problems and refused to allow a weakened Britannia to lead the meetings. Though they respected Nunnally and Schneizel for their opposition of the Demon Lelouch they were not prepared to allow Britannia to have any power in the world. The sword and armor of Britannia had been cracked and battered and the nations of the world were quick to shoot down any ideas from the Britannian diplomats. It appeared that after years of bullying by the Empire, the world had decided to give them a taste of what they had suffered. Some radical politicians had even called for the dismantlement of the Empire! Zero had been furious at the utter lack of respect shown to Nunnally and her diplomats. Every where they turned people rebuked them. When they agreed to make compromises, nations would shoot back for even more. Soon Nunnally and the Britannian Empire had been isolated from the world and her diplomates remained silent at the UFN meetings.

Zero stood and stretched, it had been a long ride and he had thought a lot. The world was falling apart, and there was nothing he could do about it, at least not until he got Nunnally to safety and killed that traitor Hollister. He gently woke Nunnally and began unfolding her wheelchair. She drowsily unbuckled her seatbelt and tried to rise. Zero quickly came to her, lifted her up, and placed her in the wheelchair. She sleepily thanked him, and blinking the drowsiness from her eyes looked out at the sunlight streaming through the window. As she looked up at him, Zero smiled under his mask and said quietly, "Morning sleepy head."

Nunnally smiled at him and said, "Morning, where are we?"

"We have arrived at Portland, I'm not sure who is in command so we will need to be careful."

Just then Lt. Gilcrest exited the cockpit and said, "Brigadier Darlton is acting commander. He is expecting you, please come this way." With that Gilcrest opened the door, letting a blinding amount of light enter the shuttle, and started down the ramp. Sayoko followed him to ensure there was no traps for the Empress and Schneizel would follow the Empress and Zero out. The small party began descending the ramp and Zero scanned the assembled troops. He was a little worried that Darlton may sell the Empress out to the traitors, but if Darlton was half as loyal to the royal family as his father had been then they had nothing to worry about. To their right and left were thousands of men and women standing at attention. Behind these men were three rows of ten Knightmare Frames, all with swords or lances pointed to the sky. Before them was what Zero assumed was the command team. At its forefront was Claudio Darlton, last son of Andreas Darlton.

With the deaths of his father and brothers Claudio had inherited a large fortune, however much of it had been taken upon Lelouch's ascension to the throne due to Claudio's support of Cornelia. After Lelouch's downfall Claudio had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier and much of his wealth had been restored. In all honesty however Claudio could care less about the wealth. He had lost his family and it haunted him. Why had he survived? Why was he destined to walk alone while his father and brothers were together at peace. His soldiering skills were intact thankfully. Yes he fought on as his father had taught him, he would ensure no shame came to the Darlton family name, a name that so many brave men had died under. Still, when he was alone or at night in his bed these thoughts always came back to haunt him. He apparently had not suffered enough yet though, whatever cruel hand was guiding his destiny had decided that Claudio must suffer another lose. General Hector had been like a second father to him, a teacher and confidant that had been able to ease the pain of his mind. The old man had been like that for many young officers, but Claudio had needed it more than most. With the death of his family and the disappearance of his long time friend and commander Sir Gilford, Claudio had been in a very dark place until the General had brought him back into the light. Now it seemed that he would once again lose a valued friend and commander. A weaker man may of looked at suicide at this point, and truth be told Claudio had thought about it from time to time before being transfered to General Hector's staff, but now he knew his purpose. The same pain felt by him was being felt by many of the young officers around the base. It was time he, Claudio Darlton, stood up and filled that gap. As he had been helped by so many, he would now help those officers under his command. He would be the rock that they could cling to when all hope seemed lost and the world stood against them. As he watched Lt. Gilcrest descend down the ramp, Claudio decided he would start with him. A loyal and talented officer, he had been one of the closest to General Hector, and though the difference in their ranks had prevented much socializing Darlton had begun looking at the young officer as a valuable friend. Yes he would take Gilcrest aside and speak to him about what happened, and then he would see what he could do to help him get through it.

Standing beside Brigadier Darlton, stood someone Zero recognized all to well. Lloyd Asplund stood there with his ever present smile, whispering into Darlton's ear about something. Lloyd being here made Zero more nervous than all the soldiers around him. Where as Darlton was more than likely loyal, Lloyd was an enigma, you could never tell where his brain would lead him. Besides that, for over two years Lloyd had worked with Suzaku, and was probably the best chance of blowing his cover as Zero. He had tried to stay away from Lloyd following Lelouch's death, but now it seemed he would be thrust to work with him again. He would just have to be careful, and if Lloyd did find out he would have to be taken care of.

As the two parties met, Zero and Darlton both sized each other up. Zero knew what Darlton was thinking, he was sizing up the enemy who had killed his father and brothers. Zero hoped that Darlton's loyalty to Nunnally was greater than his grief over the deaths off his family. Darlton moved forward in front of Nunnally, kneeled and said, "Welcome to Portland your majesty." Nunnally nodded her thanks and the two parties merged to surround the young Empress and led her inside the compound. Zero listened vaguely to what Darlton was saying, being more interested in analyzing the base and the people standing around him. With the exception of Lloyd they were all military men, many of them younger officers. It seemed that Darlton was not only the highest ranking officer, he was also one of the most senior officers at the base. 'I hope the men have experience, because it looks like their officers have very little' thought Zero. Darlton was explaining to Nunnally about how the defenses of the base was set up, how the base was equipped with one of the new Energy Distributors built to protect cities and military bases from bombardment, basically setting up a one way forcefield around the area in which it was possible to leave but not possible to enter. Lloyd jumped in at this point adding his accolades to the invention, adding that he was the designer of the system. Zero smiled, he had not realized how much he missed Lloyd. The mood was spoiled when he noticed Lloyd looking over at him with a knowing smile. Once again Zero wondered if Lloyd knew more than he should.

Finally they arrived at a dinning room, where they were all seated and food was brought out. The conversation stayed light at first, as they all enjoyed the delicious food that the cooks had set out for them. As the dinner went on however, Darlton turned the conversation much darker talking about what do to about the rebellion they found themselves fighting.

"I need to know what we are up against if I am to be useful as a commander to you," Stated Darlton, " I will make some calls to a few of my friends at other bases, I am sure more will come to support you."

"But if you do that, then the traitors will know she is here." said Zero, "I agree that we must let the world know that the Empress is alive and well, but we can't put her in danger like that."

"Zero, we understand that," said one of Darlton's staff members, "but what you are not seeing is that the enemies knew that General Hector had the Empress, which means they will know that she is going to one of General Hector's bases. That makes it likely that they will move to attack this base, as well as others that were under his command. If they have only a few battleships or a few Knightmare Frame Divisions then we will be able to hold just fine, but it is better to not take the chance. We need more men to support us."

"But if they don't join us then we will have confirmed where she is for them..." said a calm Schneizel, "There are risks and rewards for both plans. We are going to have to think on this before doing anything drastic. May I suggest that we all take a day to think on it? Perhaps thinks will be more clear tomorrow."

"An excellent idea Schneizel," remarked Darlton, "I'm sure we will all think clearer in tomorrow, until then may I give you a tour of the base your highness?"

"It would be a pleasure Commander Darlton." said Nunnally. Darlton stood and Sayoko quickly moved to take her position behind Nunnally and the three headed to the door.

Everyone stood and began to follow the three. When Zero reached the door however, Lloyd grabbed Zero's shoulder and said, "I would like to have a word with you Zero. Alone."

"We can talk later Lloyd, I am going with the Empress."

"Believe me Zero, you will want to hear what I am going to tell you." The always present smile on Lloyd's face had fallen and Zero had a sinking feeling that something bad was going on. He nodded and followed Lloyd who led him out of the main building and into a large warehouse.

"This is my personal warehouse, I have it secured, so no one will be able to get in or eavesdrop." said a suddenly less serious Lloyd. He grabbed a champagne bottle and poured to glasses. He took a sip and smiled, "I have been saving this bottle for a long time.

Zero was confused and said, "What is this about Lloyd? What did you need to tell me?"

Loyd's laughter filled the warehouse, "Oh please, I don't have anything to tell you! Does a man have to have some dreadful news to share a drink with a good friend? You know you never talk to me anymore, Suzaku."

**Berlin, Germany**

The Knights of Berlin stood around the table as King Wilhelm discussed with Captain Jean-Luc how best to proceed following the Danes and Polish attack on Berlin. "I tell you," said Jean-Luc in an exasperated voice, "Now is the perfect time to crush Copenhagen! Their army is in devastated, and their allies are preoccupied. Make them pay for betraying us and attacking your capital."

King Wilhelm XI, a king of great ability and a master strategist shook his head, "I understand your points Captain, but I do not believe that the Italians are finished, and they could easily provide a counterattack from the south which would force us to retreat. Besides that, the Poles are the real concern, and though the Russians have once again laid an effective siege on Warsaw, they are far from dead. We should move to assist the Russians in the fall of Poland, forcing their surrender and eliminating a major cog in this wheel of traitors. You are also right about the Danes army being crippled, but the Danes are masters of battle, They have long known how to inflict severe damage when they are outnumbered. No, it is better to leave them to the Swedes, their Scandinavian brothers are irate with their betrayal and will be more than enough to keep the Danes from pushing south again."

"So, you would let the people who ravaged your north, and attacked your capital be punished by others? You are a king! Your job is to protect your people! Not the Russian people or the Spanish people, or even mine the French people! If we were attacked in Paris, do you believe we would come to support you in the invasion of Poland? No we would go and destroy the dogs who dared touch our magnificent capital! I-"

A sword flew up, laying directly on the Captain's neck, 2nd Knight of Berlin, Benjamin Wulff stared the Captain down, saying, "Remember who it is that you speak, I do not know how it is in France, but here in Germany the King receives the respect he is due. You would due well to remember that." With that, Wulff slide his blade back into its scabbard. The French Captain eyed Wulff warely, but before he could speak the 1st knight of Berlin stepped forward.

"Father, you are both right, the army should march to support the Russians and to hold the Austrian front, but we need to strike back at the Danes. If I may pose a suggestion?"

"You may my son"

"Thank you father, I suggest, that I take half of the Berlin Kinghts, along with a company of Panzer-Hummels to strike at Copenhagen its self. Not to hold it, but to cause damage and make them regret invading us." Nodding to the French Captain, the Prince said, "We would also be honored to take a team of the French new Archangel Frames with us to assist in the attack."

"I am all for it your highness, I will even leave a squad of my men behind to help defend Berlin, so as to make up for the lose of the Knights."

The King contemplated this, finally saying, "Very well my son, pick your team. I am counting on you."

"Yes sir! Wulff, Weber, Muller, and Wagner, your with me." With that they exited the room, followed by the French Captain.

King Wilhelm XI sat in his chair around an empty table thinking. He could not place it but something was wrong. "Something about this does not feel right..."

**Above Mt. Asahidake**

Kallen watched as the escape pod flew off, with a good ten Japanese Frames following it. She couldn't believe there luck, to not only defeat their enemy but to capture him as well was a huge accomplishment. They would be able to discover who was behind him, who had given him the Lancelot and the white frames that had proven to be so powerful Kallen was sure the answers would lead them to more enemies, but with Lelouch leading them she was sure they would be victorious.

Kallen chased after the pod, following the lead team of Knightmares. As the pod fell to the earth, the retrieval team began to circle around it, intent upon their prize. Finally the pod hit the ground, it skidded across the surface, finally coming to rest at the base of one of the smaller mountains in the area. The retrieval team landed around it, ensuring now avenue of escape. Kallen landed behind the team and watched as they tightened their circle around their prey. One stepped forward, obviously the officer, and declared "Come out with your hands up. If you do not comply then we will force you out. Believe me, it would give us no greater pleasure than to do this the hard way. Go ahead, make our day you scum."

There was am eerie silence as the squad awaited a response from the pod. Finally the doors opened, revealing a tall man in his mid 20's wearing a white pilot suit with a sheathed sword at his side. He walked out with his hands at his sides and a defiant expression on his face. Everyone held their breath as they awaited to see what he would do. Finally he let out a shout, "A Knight has a right to face his vanquisher!" The Guren moved to the forefront and Kallen said, "What would you like to say?"

"I would like to know the name of the pilot who defeated me."

"...Kallen, Kallen Kozuki."

"Well then Kallen Kozuki, I applaud your ability, an excellent opponent, who fought with skill greater than many of my Brittanian brothers. " said Benedict.

"Thank you for that, now are you going to surrender or what?"

"Hahaha straight to the point, I like that in an opponent. No, I cannot surrender, scratch that I refuse to surrender, I am a royal Knight of Brittania, and a Knight of Brittania does not surrender." Benedict raised a device which he held in his hand, "I will die before I surrender! Long live Lord Franklin!"

Suddenly the clouds above broke, revealing a Caerleon Class Battleship! The Battleship opened fire onto the Japanese Knightmare Frames, scattering them. Five strange white Knightmare's leapt from the Battleship, one descending to the ground in front of the pod while the others engaged the Japanese squad. Kallen darted out of the way of a blast fired from the Battleship and quickly was forced to dodge and weave to protect herself from the incoming Knightmares. Three of the Japanese Akatsuki Frames where destroyed, the rest were like Kallen, trying to regain a sense of balance while the four angelic Knightmares continued their assault.

The fourth landed in front of the pod, and spoke to Benedict, saying "If you want to throw your life away, then self destruct. But if you want to change the world, and defend your lord, come with me." With that the Frame extended his hand. Benedict considered it for a second, but quickly jumped into the palm of the Frames hand. The Frame leapt into the air towards the Battleship.

Meanwhile Kallen had rallied her squad and went on the counter-attack. She charged her radiation wave arm, slicing through the blasts of the enemy Knightmares and striking them with the full force of her radiation arm. She struck down the first Angel and charged a second. The Akatsuki units moved to attack the next two Angels. Kallen fought hard with her opponent, neither giving an inch, knowing that their battle would determine the victors here. The Angels however had the advantage, only using delaying tactics, and only going for the kill when they believed it assured. Kallen chased her prey left and right, up and down, circling around each other, each firing off blasts and using every weapon at their disposal.

Suddenly, Kallen gained hope in their chances to still capture not only Benedict, but even these new frames. What she saw was the Edo, charging towards the battle at full speed, which soon would be able to bring its own guns to bare upon the Caerleon Battleship.

Kallen reinvigorated her pursuit of her target, sending out Slash Harkens and Gefjun Nets in an effort to capture or kill her prey. The Angel increased its patterns of evasion, and began making its way back to its Battleship. Kallen refused to allow it to escape, and launched its radiation arm, catching the Angel by the leg.

The Angel turned, preparing to blast the arm off, but Kallen's Slash Harkens had already flown out and caught the Angel's arms, deflecting the beam away. Kallen then reconnected with her arm and drove the Angel down into the mountain side, crippling it.

After devastating that opponent, Kallen took off after the Battleship, which had just picked up Benedict and the Angel who carried him. The Edo was nearly in striking range, and as soon as it crippled the ship Kallen knew she would have to dart inside and ensure that it did not self destruct. This one ship held to much information to lose.

As the Edo closed in on its less powerful prey, the Caerleon Battleship launched one blast, missing Kallen by only a few feet, and striking the crippled Angel. Kallen could not be sure, but she had a sick feeling that wasn''t an accident.

All of a sudden the Battleship began to disappear! Piece by piece it seemed that the ship was being broken down into pixels and disappearing Kallen could not believe her eyes, an entire battleship disappeared in a matter of seconds. It was no longer being picked up on her visual screen, her radar, or her IFF Transponder. Kallen quickly called Tohdoh, "Sir, what just happened?"

"You Freakin tell me! All I saw was the We had it in our sights, and then it disappeared! Where did that thing go!"

"I'm not sure Tohdoh, it just sort of disappeared..."

Tohdoh switched channels and whispered, "Lelouch, you've been awfully quiet throughout all this, you have any Idea what happened?" He got no response. "Lelouch, I'm not playing, you haven't helped all battle, well I need your mind to get to work on this now." Still no response. "Colonel, take the bridge, I need to go check on the Brittanian Ambassador."

"Sir yes sir!" With that, Tohdoh left the bridge and went down to the control room where he had left Lelouch. He opened the door and said, "Lelouch, what do you think your-..." He found the room completely empty. Tohdoh looked around and found a note on the table reading,

"Tohdoh, as you have constantly ignored my calls in which I have made many attempts to provide you with strategic advice, I have decided to take matters into my own hands. The consequences of this now rest entirely on your shoulders. Do not blame me for what I have to do. "

Letting the paper fall to the floor, Tohdoh stared out the window and whispered, "By all that is holy, Lelouch, what have you done..."

Tohdoh slowly lifted up his com device, and said. "Kallen, hurry up and get back here, I may need your help finding someone..."

"Understood Tohdoh, I'm on my way."

Just then Tohdoh received a call from Col. Maeda, "Uh, sir, we have a large squad of Akatsukis approaching, and they seem to be transporting another Knightmare, it appears to be the same one that the Lancelot was protecting."

"What? Did we dispatch a squad after it?" asked an astounded Tohdoh.

"No sir," Said Maeda, "Though the logs so that they launched about midway through our battle with the Lanceolot. It would seem that they disobeyed orders to bring down the Lancelot and went after the retreating frame. They appear to be transporting it back here to the Edo sir. Should I have security arrest them for disobeying a direct order?"

"No Col, I will deal with it. Send me a small security detail of four men, I will be in the hangar when they arrive."

"Understood, Maeda out."

Tohdoh made his way to the elevator and as he stepped in he could feel his blood boiling. He knew without a doubt what Lelouch had done now. It may of been to capture or kill the terrorist, but it was still unforgivable. Tohdoh let out one low hiss as the elevator took him down to the hangar bay, "He Geassed my men!"

**Caerleon Class Battleship**

Benedict stepped on board the bridge, flanked by two soldiers in scarlet red uniforms. The bridge bustled with activity as ensigns ran messages and officers barked orders. Yet this bridge was special, to the back with a commanding view of the hustle and bustle was a large raised dais, upon which sat three thrones, all with occupants in them. The one at the center was taller and more magnificent than the others, and in it sat a tall middle aged man with short blond hair and eyes that emitted nothing less than power and confidence. To the right sat a small mouse of a man with a perpetual smirk which said to the world, "I'm better than you". The third man, on the left of the throne, sat a frail looking man, who unlike the other two, who were regally dressed, this man wore a simple white robe. This man sat there with his eyes close, completely still except for the occasional twitch of the eyes.

Benedict stared up from the foot of this raised platform, and eyed all three men. He nodded his head in respect and said, "Thank you sir, for your timely rescue, it is humiliating enough to be defeated by the elevens, but would of been even more so to of been captured by them. However I must now ask you to move to rescue my lord Franklin, who is still fighting for his survival. I-"

"I'm afraid thats not possible, Franklin has already been captured." Interrupted the man on the center throne. Pressing a button, a video screen slid down, displaying a battered Knightmare Frame being dragged into the Japanese Battleship Edo. "As you can see, Your lord is not fighting anymore." The mouse man snickered at that.

Shooting the snickering man a death glare, Benedict quickly turned back to the center man and said, "We must rescue him immediately! Sir, I respectively request that you give me the use of your considerable firepower to perform a rescue operation. It will only take-"

"We will not be performing any rescue operation. You are under the mistaken allusion that this man is worth the time and effort it would take to get him. He is a spoiled, pompous lord, with little to no ability. You have slaved away for an unworthy master your entire life, it is time to serve a new master. A master worthy of your service."

An angry Benedict looked his savior dead in the eye and said, "My Family has served the Franklins for generations, from the moment they became lords we have protected them. Now you expect me to break that cycle? Why should I turn my back on everything I know, everything that I have been taught to believe in!"

"You are a valiant warrior young Benedict. For that reason we rescued you. Do not turn out to be an idiot who is more suited as a grunt than a commander. Think on it, your former lord was weak, pathetic, he was a worm to be distanced from the very second you got the chance. Well, now is your chance, and who better to serve than one who is destined to rule the world?"

"And who is that, You!" Shouted Benedict, "You have one ship and you think it makes you so powerful, well guess what! My lord actually fought the Elevens, unlike you cowards who only ran away! I-"

Suddenly Benedict was shoved down to the floor forcefully by a force he could not see. Excruciating pain shot through his body, as he felt like tiny needles were hammered into his skin, and that same skin was on fire. Also, it felt like he had been put into a bubble, a bubble which lacked oxygen! As Benedict laid there on the floor, gaging and emitting a silent scream, the man from the center throne walked down the steps to him. Stopping a step above Benedict's head, he looked down at Benedict with an anger in his eyes, eyes that Benedict could see had become a vibrant red. 'Such power!' Thought Benedict, as he withered under the assault of those glowing eyes. Then the man spoke"We are not cowards! Should you ever refer to us that why again young Benedict, you will die. You are a valuable warrior, but your insolence is quickly becoming bothersome.

Leaning down to Benedict's level, the strange, powerful man whispered in a more comforting voice, "This is the power our master provides. He, is a master worthy of your service. Will you serve him? Or would you prefer to die like a dog..." Standing back up the man's eyes changed to from the angry red to a soft brown color, and the pain Benedict felt ceased, it was as if he was taking his first breath, the breath of life, and he could see now that this was the start of his new life. Rising to a kneeling position, Benedict shakingly said, I pledge myself to you my lord, and to the master we both now serve. I shall do battle against his enemies and protection to his friends. I shall be the shield which protects him, and the sword which strikes down his foes. This, I so swear."

Sitting in their chairs above, the rat and the frail man both nodded knowingly, and the powerful man before Benedict smiled a triumphant smile and said, "Rise Sir Benedict, You are now a Knight of the Apocalypse!"

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**And thats the end of that. As always now that you have read it, please review it, Need to hear how I'm doing, what you guys and gals like and dislike, otherwise I cant make my story (and my writing ability) better. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.**


	16. The End is the Beginning

**I'm Baaaaaack! Hey everyone you miss me? Its been sometime since I've had the will to write, and so I'm pretty happy with getting this chapter done. You know i would have thought with this being so long between updates that I would of been at the bottom of the list and would not get any more reviews. However y'all kept reading and so I was forced to start writing! I'm glad you guys enjoy the story and i will try to do better with updates. **

**Just so there is no confusion, as expressed by one Serpintinia Malfoy (Thanks for reading and adding to your favorites!) Benedict and Benjamin are two different people, One lord, one vassal, think Nobel and his Knight. **

**Now that that is out of the way, get to reading!**

* * *

**Military base, Portland, Brittania**

A single gunshot pierced the silence.

The gunshot was soon replaced by the most annoying laugh in all of Brittania.

Lloyd smiled as Zero stood with his gun pointed at him, hardly moving since firing his round. A soft light had materialized just a few feet from him, stopping the bullet in its tracks. "Surely Suzaku you paid attention to what I was saying earlier, the new forcefield generators that are being used by the powers that be, they were developed by me. Did you really think I would not have one just for this? Really Suzaku I always had more respect for you than this."

Suzaku seethed under the Zero mask, he had been set up, and as always Lloyd was the mastermind, "Whats your game Lloyd, you got me, now what?"

"Game? Suzaku I'm hurt, can't a friend simply share a drink with his compatriot? Here, leave your weapons behind and we can sit here and swap stories of the past year."

Laying his gun on a nearby table Suzaku approached the forcefield, "No offense Lloyd, but you were never one to sit around and share stories, least of all with me." As the forcefield fell Suzaku moved to sit across from his former engineer. Taking off his mask he asked "Now what are you planning?"

"Sigh, a year is a long time Suzaku, you wouldn't believe the kind of advancements I could of made in this time. Alas, with the fall of Brittanians military might I have seen my budget cut in half and many of my best people laid off. You wouldn't believe the kind of time I've had, my walls are filled with ideas, blueprints, theorems of things that could be discovered." Lloyd's face took on a vacant stare. "Even so, with all of these thoughts and discoveries I must say this year has been increasingly boring, I miss the days where I had an objective, a single thing to center my mind on." Suddenly happy again he said with a smirk, "But now that you are here the fun can start once again."

"Lloyd your insane, I have no time for games or this idle chit chat. The Empress needs me, now get to the point."

"Hahaha so impatient Suzaku, the Empress is in very little danger here, I can assure you Commander Darlton is a true supporter and will protect her. Sides, Ive been waiting along time to show you this." With a flick of his wrist Loyd shouted, "Behold!" Lights behind him flashed on, revealing a large white Knightmare Frame that looked very familiar...

* * *

**Command Center, Lijiang**

Mortars continued to fall around the command center as fighting raged throughout the city. General Zhou Xianglin however was preoccupied with a transmission from the capital

"What!"

"You heard me commander, General Xingke has lost the mountain passes, and even now is in full retreat from Tibet. The new line requires that you reinforce your right flank at Deqen, otherwise you run the risk of being flanked and cut off."

"I told you already Minister, my lines are already stretched then, I called you to request reinforcements, not for you to tell me to spread them even thinner!"

"You must do what you have to do General, there are no reinforcements available to you from the Home defense. I suggest calling on General Gu if you are truly in that dire of a situation, perhaps he has some for you."

"Do you want me to retreat? I'm trying to get this through your head! Sir, the enemy is pushing deeper and deeper into Lijiang, and is pushing my men across all fronts! I need more men if I am to hold this position, a position I was told not to lose!"

"General Xingke has faith in your abilities. It is why you were given this post over some of the more... anticipated officers. Are you telling me that that trust was misplaced?"

"No of course not but-"

"No buts commander, hold the line, the nation and the Empress are counting on you." With that Minister Liao ended the communication.

General Xianglin stared at the black screen and slammed her fist on the table, "I hate politicians!"

"General! They've taken the airport and the southern market district!"

Closing her eyes, Zhou regained her composure and said. "Order the 3rd and 5th regiments to take them back, especially the airport, we need that if we are to continue getting supplies in to the city." She walked over to the table where a map of china was laid out, showing the positions of all the armies. Looking at her lines stretched so very thin, many to the point that they may break at any second, she sighed and thought, 'Xingke what would you do?' If only her commander was here right now to guide her. But he wasnt, she stood up straighter, her resolve hardened, she would deal with it herself.

* * *

**A few miles out from Copenhagen**

The young Wilhelm looked over their plan of attack once more. They had made it this far undetected through a mix of skill and pure dumb luck. Tonight however, it was to much to leave up to luck.

Wulff and Mueller stood around the table with him, complete opposites sharing the same purpose. Wulff, a member of the old guard, was as big as a bear and as strong as one to. King Wilhelm's trusted man for many years, he now stood as the young heir's protector and adviser in this his first real taste of command. Across the table stood Mueller, the Prince's long time friend and confidant. Of average height and sleight build he possessed a more subdued strength, one that was not known to show itself until the most opportune moment.

This two stood across from each other, usually at odds, but today unified under one cause.

The dislike of the French Captain...

Captain Jean-Luc stood across from the three, looking over the same plans, but making no attempt to hide the separation. Over the course of the campaign north he had made no attempt to hide the fact that he believed his men superior to those under German command. Even now he, while preparing to fight together he insinuated this.

"Are you sure your men are ready? We only have one shot at this, we must do as much damage as possible and get out before they surround us. It will be hard enough to get back through enemy lines without getting trapped inside the city..."

"They know their objectives," growled Wulff, obviously tired of hearing this same speech for the third time.

"Knowing their objectives and having the ability to complete them are two different things. Are you sure you are not over extending them? I'm sure my men can take care of the Harbor as well as the Industrial and Airport districts. No need to put your men in such danger."

"I already told you, we've got the Harbor covered," said Mueller trying to keep his patience.

"Oh very well, very well. Just so long as you understand," Looking directly at Wilhelm, "This is a hit and run attack, quick in, faster out. Any man who falls behind will be left behind. Any one who turns back will not make it out." Walking out of the tent, "I hope you have not sent your men needlessly to their death."

_**EDO **_**Battleship**

Standing on the docking bay Tohdoh fumed, how dare Lelouch take his men on a mission without telling him first. Sure perhaps Lelouch had tried to contact him, but getting no response was not an excuse to do whatever you pleased! Probably the most insulting aspect of this whole situation was the fact that he could do absolutely nothing about it, at least not, until he found a way around that geass...

Kallen, who had just landed on the Edo, ran over to him and asked, "What happened sir?"

Tohdoh looked at her with the blank expression of a hardened soldier, suppressing the anger he could feel rising from deep within himself, "The Brittanian took men into combat without permission. You know what that means..."

"Geass..." she whispered in an unbelieving voice. Though she knew that it was a weapon that could cripple their enemy, she still felt disgusted when hearing of it being used on allies.

"Exactly. And I don't like it one bit."

The Squad of Akatsukis finally landed, bringing on board the torn wreckage of the enemy commander's frame. As most of the squad dismounted from their frames, one came over with his Sword, and sawed off the back of the cockpit. Out tumbled a short, plumb man who Tohdoh immediately recognized as the Earl Franklin.

His anger at Lelouch momentarily forgotten, Tohdoh looked the man over unimpressed at this poor excuse of a man.

Suddenly one of Tohdoh's officers ran up and picking up the earl shouted, "Nothing but Eleven Dogs are we!" With that he reared back and slugged the Earl right in the nose, sending him flying back against his mutilated frame, blood dripping from his broken nose.

"Ow ow ow! How dare you! I am of the Brittanian Nobility, I demand proper treatment!"

"Proper treatment? I have proper treatment for you!" The officer, who Tohdoh recognized as Captain Nagasaki came close to landing another well placed hit on the pathetic noble, before five of the men restrained him at Tohdoh's orders. "Let me go! Let me go I say! That's an order!"

"That is not proper behavior for an officer, Commander Tohdoh." said a man walking up from behind the battered Knightmare Frame, next to the bleeding man, "Much more suited for the pubs and taverns than a battlefield command. Are you sure your men are up to the task?"

Tohdoh glared at Lelouch, and was about to make a tart reply, when the Earl saved him the trouble. "OH a Brittanian! I'm saved! Please, take me away before these savages do more harm to me."

Lelouch looked down at the sniveling man, and with contempt said, "Get up you worthless piece of filth, or I'll have someone carry you to the brig. You are under arrest for the crimes of terrorism and attempted genocide, both crimes against humanity and if I have my way you won't ever get your day in court."

The Earl stared dumbfounded up at Lelouch, not quite understanding the meaning of his words. He took to long, and Lelouch motioned for some officers to take him. They grabbed the Earl and took him kicking and screaming to a holding cell.

Tohdoh knew all eyes were on him, his men had just seen Lelouch insult their officers and give orders with a sense of command. He could feel they were nervous, scared that perhaps this Brittanian was more than he claimed to be. He had to diffuse this situation before they got two worried and began to snoop. Or maybe... 'No it would be worse if the men find out on their own, I have to figure away around this geass myself,' thought the old solider. As always he must protect his men.

"Captain Smith, I am not completely sure what is custom in the Brittanian armed services, but here in Japan we make it a point to show respect to your fellow officers. If you are to remain here as part of the officer exchange program we have with your country it would be wise for you to remember that. You will apologize to Captain Nagasaki immediately for your comments."

All eyes were on Lelouch now, who inwardly seethed that Tohdoh trapped him in a word game like this, the old man definitely was still as sharp as the old samurai sword he wore at his hip. Not yet willing to blow his cover he had no choice but to swallow his pride and accept that Tohdho had won this battle, but Lelouch took comfort in the fact that he would still win the war.

"Of course General," said Lelouch, "I apologize for any disrespect I showed to the great armed services of Japan and to you, as you are both valued allies to my beloved country," turning to Captain Nagasaki he gave a half bow and said, "I apologize for my earlier words, they were made in the heat of the moment and do not reflect my opinions on this upstanding army."

Tohdoh knew he would probably pay for this humiliation later, but for now the crisis had past, his men knew their General was in charge and the Brittanian upstart had been humiliated in front of them, for now it was enough. "Very good Captain, if you will follow me now I would like to have a talk with you about what you observed in this battle. Kallen, you come along as well, I want to know what happened to that ship."

The three boarded the elevator together, and rode in silence, each lost in their own thoughts of what was coming. Kallen wanted to know why Lelouch had geassed their own men. Lelouch wanted revenge on Tohdoh for the humiliation, but knew it would not be worth it and so thought back to the battle. Tohdoh had already looked past both instances and was already wondering what information they could get out of the Earl.

As the elevator opened and the three entered the briefing room, the silence became deafening. Taking their seats, both strategist seemed to size each other up, both wondering where this uneasy partnership would lead.

Lelouch had a brief flash of nostalgia, longing for the Tohdoh he had once scored as both 100 skill and loyalty. He knew Tohdoh's faith in him had been shaken by the revelation of Geass, and the loss of numerous comrades. He still felt however that he could once again win the trust of this brave and valiant warrior, and Tohdoh the commander, working under his own authority and free will would always be worth 1000X more than Tohdoh forced under geass. The trick was proving that he deserved that trust.

Tohdoh for his part wondered what Lelouch's game was. It was obvious that his death was staged, thus Lelouch had willingly given up the world just as he had won it. It made no sense to give up the world just to come back to Japan and control it from behind the screens. What was the need for a puppet master of a small nation like Japan when one held the whole world? Only two reasons existed that Tohdoh could think of. The obvious one, and the one Ohgi would believe whole heartedly, was that he had a bigger, more sinister plan in mind than complete domination, after all, was it entirely crazy to think that warfare was just a game to this man? The second option was far less likely, but always possible, and Tohdoh never eliminated anything except the impossible, and this man had proved to do the impossible many times. Could they have been wrong about Lelouch? about Zero? The very thought was disconcerting and Tohdoh did not know which of the two was worse. Could they truly of misjudged him so completely that they created their own worse enemy? That they could of turned there greatest asset into a monster?

Kallen could take the silence no longer, and began telling about how the ship just disappeared into thin air, "It was the strangest thing I had ever seen, it was almost like it was cloaking, but instead it had just vanished. Do you two have any idea what it could be?"

Both shook their heads and Lelouch finally spoke, "Whoever it was, are only lead to them is the Earl, he had the same advanced frames as the ship launched. The question is, who are they? The Earl seems to be a member of the old order, and so the first thought is an underground network of nobility, and yet they chose to save the vassal rather than the Lord, not something the old order would do. I think the only way we are going to discover anything is by interrogating the murderer down stairs."

"Agreed," said Tohdoh more than happy to let the talk on geassing his men wait until after they deal with the Earl. Rising he said, "Lets go and see this piece of filth."

All three once again entered the elevator, this time the air was much less chilled and they freely discussed the battle and their opinions on the Earl. As they finally reached the brig, a guard stood watching over the interrogation room. Tohdoh went up to him and said, "Who's interrogating the prisoner currently?"

"Lt. Morioka sir! She just began the questioning a few minutes ago."

"Call her out Corporal, I'll take care of this pile of trash personally."

"Yes sir!" The guard hit the speaker and relayed the message and in a a few seconds the Lieutenant came out with an aggravated expression on her face.

"That must be the most hateful man in the world, if you are polite he responds with insults, when you threaten he laughs in your face, and when you ask questions he mocks and demands "favors" for his cooperation. I spent only ten minutes with that garbage and already I could go my whole life without ever seeing him again! Sir, I wish you the best of luck with this one."

The three of them walked in, Kallen closing the door behind them. In the middle of the room with his back to the door sat the Earl, chained to a desk. He laughed as he heard the door close and said with a mouthful of condescension and disdain, "So my dear, have you thought about my offer? Or perhaps you ran for help in fulfilling the requests I made?"

Tohdoh walked up behind him and gripping his shoulders tightly said, "I can promise you, you will not speak to my soldiers that way again."

"Or what? You may be savages, but I know your government has signed the Pendragon accords, I know my rights, you can't touch me."

Lelouch walked to the wall across from the Earl, leaned against it nonchalantly and said, "Just give him to me General, you'll get your information and wont have to even put him through trial. We can end all this in ten minutes."

Tohdoh looked at Lelouch and taking his hands off the Earl, "Perhaps that would be for the best, he is your people after all."

The Earl laughed louder, "Don't you get it? You can't touch me either, or you will be stripped of your rank and jailed! Even an Eleven lover like yourself can't be stupid enough to give everything up for them. Don't try to intimidate me with this good cop bad cop routine, it doesn't work when I know you can't back it up."

The smug smile on his face almost made Lelouch lose his cool, but instead he just stared at Tohdoh and asked, "Well?"

Tohdoh would not wish this on anyone, but he refused to let the enemy get away when they had a chance to find the mastermind, "Very well, just give me a minute." Tohdoh walked over to Kallen, whispered something to her, and watched as she walked out. She soon returned and said, "The cameras and recorders are off, and locked in to my command codes.

Tohdoh looked at Lelouch, "Do what you have to do."

"Are you staying?"

"I want to see first hand how you work your magic, can't say my last experience was very enlightening. Besides, I want to hear what he says."

Lelouch blinked once, then nodded and stared into the Earl's eyes, "Answer my questions!" as the geass took affect you could see the light leave the Earl's eyes and he became little more than a data base of information.

"Who are you?" best to start with one they already knew.

"I am Earl Jerimiah Franklin, Third son of the Baron Franklin of Pennsylvania, The Hero of the Southern Conquest."

"Why are you here?"

"I am here because this is my land. It was given to me for my service in conquering Area 11. Though the Elevens tried to round us up, I pulled back into my secret fortress to wait the turmoil out. With the death of the Traitor Emperor, and the backing of the once and future king I have my chance!"

"The once and future king?"

"Yes! The great lord has come back to bring Brittania to a shinning new age! But the old must be swept away for the new and so he bides his time until all the world will once again know of his greatness!"

"Who is he?"

"HAHAHA you fool!" This was not the Earl's voice, astonishing the two observers, "Have you not read the stories? Do you not know your own history? He is of the blood, but at once above the blood! You will know him by the signs he brings, the great deeds he does, the down fall of nations and the rising up of the chosen! He's ancient wisdom shall guide us into the future. His youthful energy shall lead us to victory. Judgment shall he bring upon the defilers and the undeserving, and death shall be their sentence. He who slumbered has been awakened! Hark! His Herald already prepares his way, let all the world know and cower in fear! "

With that final shout the Earl's head dropped and remained motionless. Lelouch and Tohdoh looked at each other, unsure of what had just happened, each searching the others face for confirmation that that was real. Finally Tohdoh stepped forward and checked the Earl's pulse, "He's dead... Does this happen to all of your victims?"

"This would be the first... I have seen it possible to disobey an order, and it has nearly killed, but nothing like this. This man wasn't himself, it was almost like there were two beings inside, or as if he was just a shell, a conduit to deliver a message. That other voice was... concerning to say the least..."

Kallen shuddered and said, "Perhaps this Herald is who we should be looking for? I mean if he is preparing the way for such a being he should be easy to pick out right? weakening society, destroying civilizations, bringing down nations..." she shuddered again and braced herself against the wall.

Lelouch and Tohdoh nodded, both concerned with this strange turn of events, neither one was prepared for this, neither one had expected or planned for this. They looked at each other and together nodded. If nothing else this proved why they needed each other. The three walked out of the room slowly, leaving the dead Earl where he sat. Tohdoh would send someone to dispose of the body later, for now they just wanted away from this body and the dark secrets they had just learned.

* * *

As his eyes cleared of the red haze that filled them, the vermin looked towards his master, "It is done my lord, the message has been delivered. The stage is set. The die has been cast.

The man sitting upon his dark throne smirked, his eyes hinting at a great and sadistic intelligence, rose to his feet and proclaimed to the darkness, "The time of my ascension is at hand. I will claim the throne of my father, and I will remake this world in my image! Let all who oppose me burn, and let the chosen rise up and proclaim their master." With that he let out a maniacal laugh, which echoed through the darkness and seemed to extend on into eternity.

* * *

As the fleet headed back to their bases Lelouch sat in his room thinking on all that they had learned. The discovery of some dark master was unexpected but not fatal. Lelouch had defeated many who believed themselves invincible and who wished to break the world, he would stop this one like any other. Still, the voice had rankled him, the unease he had been feeling throughout the start of this adventure had come back, more powerful than ever. He needed to find himself if he was to once again save the world.

With that thought Lelouch walked out of his room towards the hangar bay. He needed some fresh air, to clear his head before he continued. Most of all, he needed to make peace with himself.

Kallen, was walking down the hall and upon seeing Lelouch she called him by his pseudonym. With a dark thoughtful expression he entered the hangar bay. Concerned she hustled down the hall and after him. She entered just in time to see Lelouch launch an Akatsuki Jikisanshiyō out of the hangar bay. Instinctively she jumped into her Guren and went into pursuit. She was surprised to see that the Akastsuki had already gained a sizable distance from the fleet, and knew she would have to hurry to catch up.

Suddenly she got a call, "Kallen! What's going on? I was just told that we have two rouge pilots, is there a situation I need to know about?"

"It's fine Commander, I will take care of this, the Captain just wanted to test fly one of the command modules."

"As if we didn't have enough problems already... Kallen this a dangerous place for him, stick with him and keep him out of trouble."

"Will do sir." With that she activated her thrusters to make up the huge difference between them. As she neared the Akatsuki it began to land, on a small island of the coast of Kyushu. Kallen circled once to find a landing and then descended. She quickly landed her frame and jumped out.

Kallen stared at him as he stood over Rolo's makeshift grave. The self confident commander she knew had been replaced with a man who looked distressed, as if he was lost in the wilderness with no idea of which way to turn.

"You never know what you have, Kallen, until you lose it. I never appreciated those precious to me like i should. Rolo," he turned his gaze up to the sky, "Shirley... Even Nunnally I lost in the effort to become what I must. I allowed hatred to temper me into a sword, a sword who i named Zero. If I knew what i was giving up to pursue this goal, this dream, I am not sure i would have went through with it. I was able to turn myself cold, colder than ice, to be a master strategist you must be cold, for you send men to their deaths knowing full well that many will die, but i went further still, cutting myself off from everything. It's been so long Kallen, since i lived that life. I know a year does not seem so long to you, but to me this year has been a lifetime, a lifetime of making up the time i had lost, of living life instead of plotting and scheming. I let my emotions run free and flowed with how the wind took me. On board the Edo I could not shut them down, could not calculate like i once could... I have lost my edge, perhaps even the very ability that allowed me to be great... and i do not know if i can get it back... and I don't know if i even want to. I've lost so much Kallen, I don't want to lose those few I still cherish. Especially not you...

Lelouch felt her arms wrap around his waist and her head rest on his shoulder. For a time they just stood there, thinking about all they had been through. Finally Kallen whispered into his ear, "You will never lose me Lelouch, you should know that by now. Right now though, Japan, no the world, needs you to be the man you are, the man you were meant to be." smiling and with a lighter tone punches him gently and says, "Besides, what good is an Ace pilot without a commander to lead her? The Queen still needs a King to protect."

* * *

**The world is at war, the lines between good and evil have been grayed and underneath it all an evil much greater than any realize, and the one man with the power to unite them has lost his way. Will Lelouch find himself, sharpen his edge, and drag the world back from the brink of destruction? we will just have to wait and see...**

**So I hope y'all enjoyed that, not bad for first chapter back i don't think, especially since Lelouch has finally put down the rebellion. Now we can start getting into the fun stuff, Big battles with lelouch working his genius (hopefully, we will see how well i can portray it) Thanks for reading, and remember make sure you review, the more reviews the more i feel the need to write, so lets get a lot ;)**


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